Python Function Execution Security Warning Disabled In Excel - Registry

Severity: high
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), @Kostastsale
Source: upstream

Detects changes to the registry value "PythonFunctionWarnings" that would prevent any warnings or alerts from showing when Python functions are about to be executed. Threat actors could run malicious code through the new Microsoft Excel feature that allows Python to run within the spreadsheet.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Defense Evasion	`T1562.001` Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools

Event coverage

Provider	Event ID	Title
Sysmon	13	RegistryEvent (Value Set)

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `selection`

Details: 'DWORD (0x00000001)'
TargetObject|endswith: '\Excel\Security\PythonFunctionWarnings'
TargetObject|contains: '\Microsoft\Office\'

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.