Detection rules › Splunk
Disable ETW Through Registry
The following analytic detects modifications to the registry that disable the Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) feature. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically monitoring changes to the registry path "*\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\ETWEnabled" with a value set to "0x00000000". This activity is significant because disabling ETW can allow attackers to evade detection mechanisms, making it harder for security tools to monitor malicious activities. If confirmed malicious, this could enable attackers to execute payloads with minimal alerts, impairing defenses and potentially leading to further compromise of the system.
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: tstats
tstats WHERE Registry.registry_path="*\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\.NETFramework\\ETWEnabled" Registry.registry_value_data="0x00000000" BY Registry.action, Registry.dest, Registry.process_guid, Registry.process_id, Registry.registry_hive, Registry.registry_path, Registry.registry_key_name, Registry.registry_value_data, Registry.registry_value_name, Registry.registry_value_type, Registry.status, Registry.user, Registry.vendor_product
Stage 2: search
search
Stage 3: where
where isnotnull(registry_value_data)
Stage 4: search
search
Stage 5: search
search
Stage 6: search
search `macro`
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.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
Registry.registry_path | eq |
|
Registry.registry_value_data | eq |
|