Elastic Security Detection Rules

Image File Execution Options Injection

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 5 years ago on 2020-11-17

About

The Debugger and SilentProcessExit registry keys can allow an adversary to intercept the execution of files, causing a different process to be executed. This functionality can be abused by an adversary to establish persistence.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Event Triggered Execution (T1546)(opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Modify Registry (T1112)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.registry-*endgame-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*winlogbeat-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
registry where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "change" and
  registry.value : ("Debugger", "MonitorProcess") and length(registry.data.strings) > 0 and
  registry.path : (
    "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\*.exe\\Debugger",
    "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\*\\Debugger",
    "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SilentProcessExit\\*\\MonitorProcess",
    "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SilentProcessExit\\*\\MonitorProcess",
    "\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\*.exe\\Debugger",
    "\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\*\\Debugger",
    "\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SilentProcessExit\\*\\MonitorProcess",
    "\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SilentProcessExit\\*\\MonitorProcess",
    "MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\*.exe\\Debugger",
    "MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\*\\Debugger",
    "MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SilentProcessExit\\*\\MonitorProcess",
    "MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SilentProcessExit\\*\\MonitorProcess"
  ) and
    /* add FPs here */
  not registry.data.strings regex~ ("""C:\\Program Files( \(x86\))?\\ThinKiosk\\thinkiosk\.exe""", """.*\\PSAppDeployToolkit\\.*""")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Image File Execution Options Injection in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).