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HighSigmaHQMatt Anderson (Huntress)

PowerShell Defender Threat Severity Default Action Set to 'Allow' or 'NoAction'

Detects the use of PowerShell to execute the 'Set-MpPreference' cmdlet to configure Windows Defender's threat severity default action to 'Allow' (value '6') or 'NoAction' (value '9'). This is a highly suspicious…

Description

Detects the use of PowerShell to execute the 'Set-MpPreference' cmdlet to configure Windows Defender's threat severity default action to 'Allow' (value '6') or 'NoAction' (value '9'). This is a highly suspicious configuration change that effectively disables Defender's ability to automatically mitigate threats of a certain severity level. An attacker might use this technique via the command line to bypass defenses before executing payloads.

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Platform
ContainersESXiIaaSLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.

Log source product
windows
Log source category
process_creation

Known benign triggers

  • Highly unlikely

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