UAC Bypass via WSReset Execution Hijack


Description

Identifies attempts to bypass User Account Control (UAC) via WSReset execution hijack. Attackers bypass UAC to stealthily execute code with elevated permissions.

Query · eql

sequence with maxspan=60s
 [registry where
  registry.path :
      ("HKEY_USERS\\S-1-5-21-*Classes\\*\\Shell\\open\\command\\DelegateExecute",
       "HKEY_USERS\\S-1-12-1-*Classes\\*\\Shell\\open\\command\\DelegateExecute",
       "*\\ms-windows-store*")]
 [process where event.action == "start" and process.parent.name : "WSReset.exe" and
  process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name == "high" and
  not process.executable :
           ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFault.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFault.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mmc.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\mmc.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\system32\\conhost.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW6\\conhost.exe")]
Raw source UAC Bypass via WSReset Execution Hijack · Elastic TOML
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Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Identifies attempts to bypass User Account Control (UAC) via WSReset execution hijack. Attackers bypass UAC to
stealthily execute code with elevated permissions.
"""
id = "11c67af9-9599-4800-9e84-bd38f2a51581"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "UAC Bypass via WSReset Execution Hijack"
os_list = ["windows"]
reference = ["https://github.com/hfiref0x/UACME"]
version = "1.0.31"

query = '''
sequence with maxspan=60s
 [registry where
  registry.path :
      ("HKEY_USERS\\S-1-5-21-*Classes\\*\\Shell\\open\\command\\DelegateExecute",
       "HKEY_USERS\\S-1-12-1-*Classes\\*\\Shell\\open\\command\\DelegateExecute",
       "*\\ms-windows-store*")]
 [process where event.action == "start" and process.parent.name : "WSReset.exe" and
  process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name == "high" and
  not process.executable :
           ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFault.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFault.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mmc.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\mmc.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\system32\\conhost.exe",
            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW6\\conhost.exe")]
'''

min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 1

[[optional_actions]]
action = "rollback"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 1

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1548"
name = "Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1548.002"
name = "Bypass User Account Control"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/002/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0004"
name = "Privilege Escalation"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"

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