Detection rules › Splunk

Disabling ControlPanel

Author
Teoderick Contreras, Splunk, Steven Dick
Source
upstream

The following analytic detects registry modifications that disable the Control Panel on Windows systems. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically monitoring changes to the registry path "*\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoControlPanel" with a value of "0x00000001". This activity is significant as it is commonly used by malware to prevent users from accessing the Control Panel, thereby hindering the removal of malicious artifacts and persistence mechanisms. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to maintain control over the infected machine and prevent remediation efforts.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1112 Modify Registry
Defense EvasionT1112 Modify Registry, T1562.001 Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon13RegistryEvent (Value Set)

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: tstats

tstats WHERE Registry.registry_path="*\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer\\NoControlPanel" Registry.registry_value_data="0x00000001" 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.

FieldKindValues
Registry.registry_patheq
  • "*\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer\\NoControlPanel"
Registry.registry_value_dataeq
  • "0x00000001" corpus 42 (splunk 42)