Query Registry T1012
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
Events covered
7 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4656 | A handle to an object was requested. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4663 | An attempt was made to access an object. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4799 | A security-enabled local group membership was enumerated. |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4103 | Payload Context: ContextInfo User Data: UserData. |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104 | Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 31 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.
Fields filtered most (24 distinct)
The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.
Top indicator values (121 distinct)
Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.
Exclusions (32 distinct)
Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.
Rules under this technique
Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.
Sigma 13 rules
- Azure AD Health Monitoring Agent Registry Keys Access
- Azure AD Health Service Agents Registry Keys Access
- Exports Critical Registry Keys To a File
- Exports Registry Key To a File
- HackTool - PCHunter Execution
- Operation Wocao Activity
- Operation Wocao Activity - Security
- Potential Baby Shark Malware Activity
- Potential Configuration And Service Reconnaissance Via Reg.EXE
- Potential Registry Reconnaissance Via PowerShell Script
- Registry Manipulation via WMI Stdregprov
- SAM Registry Hive Handle Request
- SysKey Registry Keys Access
Elastic 1 rule
Splunk 16 rules
- Query Registry (PowerShell)
- Query Registry (Windows Event Log)
- Reg.exe Process Execution (Sysmon)
- Reg.exe Process Execution (Windows Event Log)
- Windows Credential Access From Browser Password Store
- Windows Credentials from Password Stores Chrome Extension Access
- Windows Credentials from Password Stores Chrome LocalState Access
- Windows Credentials from Password Stores Chrome Login Data Access
- Windows Hosts File Access
- Windows Non Discord App Access Discord LevelDB
- Windows Product Key Registry Query
- Windows Query Registry Browser List Application
- Windows Query Registry UnInstall Program List
- Windows Registry Entries Exported Via Reg
- Windows Registry Entries Restored Via Reg
- Windows Software Discovery Via PowerShell