Disabling Windows Defender WMI Autologger Session via Reg.exe

Title: Disabling Windows Defender WMI Autologger Session via Reg.exe
Status: experimental
Description:Detects the use of reg.exe to disable the Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) Autologger session for Windows Defender API and Audit events. By setting the 'Start' value to '0' for the 'DefenderApiLogger' or 'DefenderAuditLogger' session, an attacker can prevent these critical security events from being logged, effectively blinding monitoring tools that rely on this data. This is a powerful defense evasion technique.
References:
  -https://research.splunk.com/endpoint/76406a0f-f5e0-4167-8e1f-337fdc0f1b0c/
  -https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/etw/configuring-and-starting-an-autologger-session
  -https://thedfirreport.com/2021/10/18/icedid-to-xinglocker-ransomware-in-24-hours/
  -https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2021/02/lazyscripter-from-empire-to-double-rat/
  -https://www.binarly.io/blog/design-issues-of-modern-edrs-bypassing-etw-based-solutions
Author: Matt Anderson (Huntress)
Date: 2025-07-09
modified:None
Tags:

• -'attack.defense-impairment'
• -'attack.t1685'

Logsource:

• category: process_creation
• product: windows

Detection:
  selection_img:
Image|endswith:'\reg.exe' OriginalFileName:'reg.exe'   selection_reg_path:
    CommandLine|contains:
      -'\Control\WMI\Autologger\DefenderApiLogger\Start'
      -'\Control\WMI\Autologger\DefenderAuditLogger\Start'

  selection_reg_add:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
      -'add'
      -'0'

  filter_main_enable:
    CommandLine|contains: '0x00000001'
  condition:all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_main_*
Falsepositives:
  -Highly unlikely
Level: high