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Detection rules › Sigma

Registry Modification Attempt Via VBScript - PowerShell

Severity
medium
Author
Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Source
upstream

Detects attempts to modify the registry using VBScript's CreateObject("Wscript.shell") and RegWrite methods embedded within PowerShell scripts or commands. Threat actors commonly embed VBScript code within PowerShell to perform registry modifications, attempting to evade detection that monitors for direct registry access through traditional tools. This technique can be used for persistence, defense evasion, and privilege escalation by modifying registry keys without using regedit.exe, reg.exe, or PowerShell's native registry cmdlets.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
ExecutionT1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic
PersistenceT1112 Modify Registry
Defense EvasionT1112 Modify Registry

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
PowerShell4104Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal).

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: selection

ScriptBlockText|contains: .RegWrite
ScriptBlockText|contains: CreateObject
ScriptBlockText|contains: Wscript.shell

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
ScriptBlockTextmatch
  • .RegWrite
  • CreateObject
  • Wscript.shell

Neighbors

Broader alternatives (more inclusive than this rule)

These rules match a superset of what this rule catches. They cover the same events plus more. Use them if you want wider coverage and can absorb more false positives.