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Suspicious Application Allowed Through Exploit Guard

Detects applications being added to the "allowed applications" list of exploit guard in order to bypass controlled folder settings

MITRE ATT&CK

T1562.001

defense-evasion

Detection Query

selection_key:
  TargetObject|contains: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Windows Defender
    Exploit Guard\Controlled Folder Access\AllowedApplications
selection_paths:
  TargetObject|contains:
    - \Users\Public\
    - \AppData\Local\Temp\
    - \Desktop\
    - \PerfLogs\
    - \Windows\Temp\
condition: all of selection_*

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-08-05

Data Sources

windowsRegistry Set Events

Platforms

windows

References

https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2017/10/23/windows-defender-exploit-guard-reduce-the-attack-surface-against-next-generation-malware/

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.t1562.001

Raw Content

title: Suspicious Application Allowed Through Exploit Guard
id: 42205c73-75c8-4a63-9db1-e3782e06fda0
status: test
description: Detects applications being added to the "allowed applications" list of exploit guard in order to bypass controlled folder settings
references:
    - https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2017/10/23/windows-defender-exploit-guard-reduce-the-attack-surface-against-next-generation-malware/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-08-05
modified: 2023-08-17
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.t1562.001
logsource:
    category: registry_set
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_key:
        TargetObject|contains: 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Windows Defender Exploit Guard\Controlled Folder Access\AllowedApplications'
    selection_paths:
        TargetObject|contains:
            # Add more paths you don't allow in your org
            - '\Users\Public\'
            - '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
            - '\Desktop\'
            - '\PerfLogs\'
            - '\Windows\Temp\'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high