Windows Hypervisor Enforced Code Integrity Disabled — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Anish Bogati. Source status: test; severity: high. Source dates: 2023-03-14 / 2024-07-05.

{
  "category": "registry_set",
  "product": "windows"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: 7027cab8391fb22e83db07ba635e16f0580468b469d85814511a515e449e164d

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

title: Windows Hypervisor Enforced Code Integrity Disabled
id: 8b7273a4-ba5d-4d8a-b04f-11f2900d043a
related:
    - id: 6225c53a-a96e-4235-b28f-8d7997cd96eb
      type: similar
status: test
description: |
    Detects changes to the HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity registry key and the "Enabled" value being set to 0 in order to disable the Hypervisor Enforced Code Integrity feature. This allows an attacker to load unsigned and untrusted code to be run in the kernel
references:
    - https://www.welivesecurity.com/2023/03/01/blacklotus-uefi-bootkit-myth-confirmed/
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/04e487c1828d76df3e834621f4f893ea756d5232/atomics/T1562.001/T1562.001.md#atomic-test-43---disable-hypervisor-enforced-code-integrity-hvci
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Anish Bogati
date: 2023-03-14
modified: 2024-07-05
tags:
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1685
logsource:
    category: registry_set
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        TargetObject|endswith:
            - '\Control\DeviceGuard\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity'
            - '\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity\Enabled'
            - '\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceGuard\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity'
        Details: 'DWORD (0x00000000)'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate system administration tasks that require disabling HVCI for troubleshooting purposes when certain drivers or applications are incompatible with it.
level: high
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_deviceguard_hypervisorenforcedcodeintegrity_disabled/info.yml
simulation:
    - type: atomic-red-team
      name: Disable Hypervisor-Enforced Code Integrity (HVCI)
      technique: T1562.001
      atomic_guid: 70bd71e6-eba4-4e00-92f7-617911dbe020

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Legitimate system administration tasks that require disabling HVCI for troubleshooting purposes when certain drivers or applications are incompatible with it.

Source references

• https://www.welivesecurity.com/2023/03/01/blacklotus-uefi-bootkit-myth-confirmed/
• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/04e487c1828d76df3e834621f4f893ea756d5232/atomics/T1562.001/T1562.001.md#atomic-test-43---disable-hypervisor-enforced-code-integrity-hvci