PowerShell Script with Windows Defender Tampering Capabilities

Last updated 9 days ago on 2025-09-03
Created a year ago on 2024-09-11

About

Identifies PowerShell scripts containing cmdlets and parameters that attackers can abuse to disable Windows Defender features. Attackers can tamper with antivirus to reduce the risk of detection when executing their payloads.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: PowerShell LogsLanguage: kuery
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

Execution (TA0002)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

Definition

Rule Type
Query (Kibana Query Language)
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-windows.powershell*
Related Integrations

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
event.category: "process" and host.os.type:windows and
(
  powershell.file.script_block_text: "Set-MpPreference" and
  powershell.file.script_block_text: (
    DisableArchiveScanning or DisableBehaviorMonitoring or
    DisableIntrusionPreventionSystem or DisableIOAVProtection or
    DisableRemovableDriveScanning or DisableBlockAtFirstSeen or
    DisableScanningMappedNetworkDrivesForFullScan or
    DisableScanningNetworkFiles or DisableScriptScanning or
    DisableRealtimeMonitoring or LowThreatDefaultAction or
    ModerateThreatDefaultAction or HighThreatDefaultAction
  )
) and
not powershell.file.script_block_text : (
  ("cmdletization" and "cdxml-Help.xml") or
  ("function Set-MpPreference" and "Microsoft.PowerShell.Cmdletization.GeneratedTypes.MpPreference.SubmitSamplesConsentType")
) and
not file.directory : "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection\SenseCM" and
not user.id : "S-1-5-18"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect PowerShell Script with Windows Defender Tampering Capabilities 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).