Active Setup

What the technique is

Adversaries may achieve persistence by adding a Registry key to the Active Setup of the local machine. Active Setup is a Windows mechanism that is used to execute programs when a user logs in. The value stored in the Registry key will be executed after a user logs into the computer. These programs will be executed under the context of the user and will have the account's associated permissions level. Adversaries may abuse Active Setup by creating a key under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\ and setting a malicious value for StubPath. This value will serve as the program that will be executed when a user logs into the computer. Adversaries can abuse these components to execute malware, such as remote access tools, to maintain persistence through system reboots. Adversaries may also use Masquerading to make the Registry entries look as if they are associated with legitimate programs.

What MITRE says you would watch

• AN0871

  Multi-event correlation of Registry creation under Active Setup with anomalous execution of processes at user logon. Behavioral patterns include creation/modification of HKLM Active Setup keys with non-standard StubPath values, followed by process execution from uncommon paths, unsigned binaries, or unusual parent-child lineage post-user login.