Disabling CMD Application

Description

The following analytic detects modifications to the registry that disable the CMD prompt application. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically looking for changes to the "DisableCMD" registry value. This activity is significant because disabling CMD can hinder an analyst's ability to investigate and remediate threats, a tactic often used by malware such as RATs, Trojans, or Worms. If confirmed malicious, this could prevent security teams from using CMD for directory and file traversal, complicating incident response and allowing the attacker to maintain persistence.

Query · spl

| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry WHERE (Registry.registry_path= "*\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\System\\DisableCMD" 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 | `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` | where isnotnull(registry_value_data) | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `disabling_cmd_application_filter`

Implementation guide

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the registry value name, registry path, and registry value data from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 2.0 of the official Sysmon TA. https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/5709

Known false positives

  • admin may disable this application for non technical user.

Analyst notes

Known false positives: admin may disable this application for non technical user.

Raw source Disabling CMD Application · SPL
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Published by splunk/security_content ↗, licensed under Apache 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified. 
name: Disabling CMD Application
id: ff86077c-9212-11eb-a1e6-acde48001122
version: 17
creation_date: '2021-03-31'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk, Steven Dick
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects modifications to the registry that disable the CMD prompt application. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically looking for changes to the "DisableCMD" registry value. This activity is significant because disabling CMD can hinder an analyst's ability to investigate and remediate threats, a tactic often used by malware such as RATs, Trojans, or Worms. If confirmed malicious, this could prevent security teams from using CMD for directory and file traversal, complicating incident response and allowing the attacker to maintain persistence.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 13
search: '| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry WHERE (Registry.registry_path= "*\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\System\\DisableCMD" 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 | `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` | where isnotnull(registry_value_data) | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `disabling_cmd_application_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the registry value name, registry path, and registry value data from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 2.0 of the official Sysmon TA. https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/5709
known_false_positives: admin may disable this application for non technical user.
references:
    - https://any.run/report/ea4ea08407d4ee72e009103a3b77e5a09412b722fdef67315ea63f22011152af/a866d7b1-c236-4f26-a391-5ae32213dfc4#registry
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
finding:
    title: The Windows command prompt was disabled on $dest$ by $user$.
    entity:
        field: user
        type: user
        score: 50
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
          message: The Windows command prompt was disabled on $dest$ by $user$.
analytic_story:
    - Windows Defense Evasion Tactics
    - Windows Registry Abuse
    - NjRAT
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1112
    - T1685
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1562.001/win_app_defender_disabling/windows-sysmon.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit

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