SolarWinds Process Disabling Services via Registry

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 5 years ago on 2020-12-14

About

Identifies a SolarWinds binary modifying the start type of a service to be disabled. An adversary may abuse this technique to manipulate relevant security services.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionTactic: Initial AccessData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

Initial Access (TA0001)(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
winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.registry-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*endgame-*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 : "Start" and
  process.name : (
      "SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost*.exe",
      "ConfigurationWizard*.exe",
      "NetflowDatabaseMaintenance*.exe",
      "NetFlowService*.exe",
      "SolarWinds.Administration*.exe",
      "SolarWinds.Collector.Service*.exe",
      "SolarwindsDiagnostics*.exe"
  ) and
  registry.path : (
    "HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start",
    "\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start",
    "MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start"
  ) and
  registry.data.strings : ("4", "0x00000004")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect SolarWinds Process Disabling Services via Registry 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).