About

Imported from mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills (skills/hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills --skill hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence. Copyright stays with the author (Apache-2.0).

Hunting for Registry Run Key Persistence

Name: hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence
Author: mukul975

Overview

Registry Run keys (T1547.001) are one of the most commonly used persistence mechanisms by adversaries. When a program is added to a Run key in the Windows registry, it executes automatically when a user logs in. Attackers abuse keys under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, and their RunOnce counterparts to maintain persistence. Sysmon Event ID 13 (RegistryEvent - Value Set) captures registry value modifications including the target object path, the process that made the change, and the new value. Detection involves monitoring these events for suspicious executables in temp directories, encoded PowerShell commands, LOLBin paths, and processes that do not normally create Run key entries. Chaining Event 13 with Event 1 (Process Creation) and Event 11 (FileCreate) strengthens detection by confirming payload creation and execution.

When to Use

When investigating security incidents that require hunting for registry run key persistence
When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques

Prerequisites

Windows systems with Sysmon installed and configured to log Event ID 13
Sysmon config with RegistryEvent rules for Run/RunOnce keys
Python 3.9+ with json, xml.etree.ElementTree, re modules
SIEM or log aggregator collecting Sysmon logs (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
Knowledge of legitimate auto-start programs for baseline comparison

Steps

Collect Sysmon Event ID 13 logs filtered for Run/RunOnce key paths
Parse event XML/JSON for TargetObject, Details (value written), Image (modifying process)
Flag entries where the value points to temp directories, AppData, or ProgramData
Detect encoded PowerShell commands or script interpreters in registry values
Identify LOLBin abuse (mshta.exe, rundll32.exe, regsvr32.exe, wscript.exe)
Compare against known-good baseline of legitimate auto-start entries
Check if the modifying process (Image) is unusual (cmd.exe, powershell.exe, python.exe)
Chain with Event ID 1 to verify if the registered binary was recently created
Generate detection report with MITRE ATT&CK mapping and severity scores
Produce Sigma/Splunk detection rules from findings

Expected Output

A JSON report listing suspicious Run key entries with the registry path, value written, modifying process, timestamp, MITRE technique mapping, severity rating, and recommended Sigma detection rules.

Use it

Copy one of these into your project. Installing also returns the manifest and these snippets.

yaml

targets:
  - https://api.opensmartroute.ai/api/v1/registry/mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-hunting-for-regi-f84f0a/manifest   # or paste the manifest below

Manifest

An Open Capability Manifest: the router reads it to know what this does, what it costs and when to pick it.

mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-hunting-for-regi-f84f0a.ocm.jsonjson

{
  "ocm": "1",
  "id": "mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-hunting-for-regi-f84f0a",
  "kind": "skill",
  "name": "hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence",
  "description": "Detect MITRE ATT&CK T1547.001 registry Run key persistence by analyzing Sysmon Event ID 13 logs and registry queries to identify malicious auto-start entries.",
  "publisher": "mukul975",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "capabilities": {
    "domains": [
      "general"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "skill-md",
      "persistence",
      "registry-run-keys",
      "t1547-001",
      "sysmon",
      "threat-hunting",
      "windows-forensics",
      "mitre-attack",
      "skills-sh"
    ],
    "languages": [
      "en"
    ]
  },
  "quality_prior": 0.6,
  "examples": [
    "Detect MITRE ATT&CK T1547.001 registry Run key persistence by analyzing Sysmon Event ID 13 logs and registry queries to identify malicious auto-start entries."
  ],
  "primary": false,
  "metadata": {
    "source": {
      "provider": "skills.sh",
      "repository": "https://github.com/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills",
      "path": "skills/hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence/SKILL.md",
      "ref": "HEAD",
      "url": "https://github.com/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence/SKILL.md",
      "key": "mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/skills/hunting-for-registry-run-key-persistence/SKILL.md"
    },
    "license": "Apache-2.0"
  },
  "instructions": "# Hunting for Registry Run Key Persistence\n\n## Overview\n\nRegistry Run keys (T1547.001) are one of the most commonly used persistence mechanisms by adversaries. When a program is added to a Run key in the Windows registry, it executes automatically when a user logs in. Attackers abuse keys under `HKLM\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run`, `HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run`, and their RunOnce counterparts to maintain persistence. Sysmon Event ID 13 (RegistryEvent - Value Set) captures registry value modifications including the target object path, the process that made",
  "cost": {
    "context_tokens": 669
  }
}

Fetch it by URL: GET /api/v1/registry/mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-hunting-for-regi-f84f0a/manifest?version=1.0.0

Reviews

Star ratings from people who tried it. One review per account; edit yours any time.

No reviews yet. Install it, try it, and be the first to rate it.