Detection rules › Sigma

Persistence Via Sticky Key Backdoor

Severity
critical
Author
Sreeman
Source
upstream

By replacing the sticky keys executable with the local admins CMD executable, an attacker is able to access a privileged windows console session without authenticating to the system. When the sticky keys are "activated" the privilleged shell is launched.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1546.008 Event Triggered Execution: Accessibility Features
Privilege EscalationT1546.008 Event Triggered Execution: Accessibility Features

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon1Process creation
Security-Auditing4688A new process has been created.

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: selection

CommandLine|contains: '/y '
CommandLine|contains: 'C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe'
CommandLine|contains: 'copy '

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
CommandLinematch
  • /y
  • C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe
  • copy corpus 11 (sigma 11)