title: Windows Registry Persistence COM Key Linking
id: 9b0f8a61-91b2-464f-aceb-0527e0a45020
status: experimental
description: Detects COM object hijacking via TreatAs subkey
references:
    - https://bohops.com/2018/08/18/abusing-the-com-registry-structure-part-2-loading-techniques-for-evasion-and-persistence/
author: Kutepov Anton, oscd.community
date: 2019/10/23
modified: 2019/11/07
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.t1122 # an old one
    - attack.t1546.015
logsource:
    category: registry_event
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        EventType: 'CreateKey'  # don't want DeleteKey events
        TargetObject|contains|all: 
            - 'HKU\'
            - '_Classes\CLSID\'
            - '\TreatAs'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Maybe some system utilities in rare cases use linking keys for backward compatibility
level: medium
