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Windows Impair Defense Disable Web Evaluation

The following analytic detects modifications to the Windows registry entry "EnableWebContentEvaluation" to disable Windows Defender web content evaluation. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry datamodel,…

Description

The following analytic detects modifications to the Windows registry entry "EnableWebContentEvaluation" to disable Windows Defender web content evaluation. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry datamodel, specifically monitoring changes where the registry value is set to "0x00000000". This activity is significant as it indicates an attempt to impair browser security features, potentially allowing malicious web content to bypass security checks. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to users interacting with harmful scripts or unsafe web elements, increasing the risk of system exploitation and security breaches.

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 category
sysmon_eventid_13

Known benign triggers

  • It is unusual to turn this feature off a Windows system since it is a default security control, although it is not rare for some policies to disable it. Although no false positives have been identified, use the provided filter macro to tune the search.

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