Tampering with Internet Explorer Protected Mode configuration

Synopsis

Field	Value
Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	XDR Agent
ATT&CK Tactic	Defense Impairment (TA0112)
ATT&CK Technique	Disable or Modify Tools (T1685)
Severity	Informational

Description

When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process (or any other program), the ElevationPolicy Registry key is checked to determine how the process should be launched. Internet Explorer will run a broker process with higher rights that can use the current user's permissions to take actions that would otherwise be prohibited when rendering content inside the Protected Mode sandbox. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2009/11/30/understanding-the-protected-mode-elevation-dialog/.

Attacker's Goals

• When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process, this key is checked to determine how the process should be launched.
• Attackers may change this value to make the process launch with higher privileges.

Investigative actions

• Check whether the injecting process is benign and if this was a desired behavior as part of its normal execution flow.

Variations

Tampering with Internet Explorer Protected Mode default configuration

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Defense Impairment (TA0112)
ATT&CK Technique	Disable or Modify Tools (T1685)
Severity	Medium

Description

When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process (or any other program), the ElevationPolicy Registry key is checked to determine how the process should be launched. Internet Explorer will run a broker process with higher rights that can use the current user's permissions to take actions that would otherwise be prohibited when rendering content inside the Protected Mode sandbox. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2009/11/30/understanding-the-protected-mode-elevation-dialog/.

Attacker's Goals

• When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process, this key is checked to determine how the process should be launched.
• Attackers may change this value to make the process launch with higher privileges.

Investigative actions

• Check whether the injecting process is benign and if this was a desired behavior as part of its normal execution flow.

Tampering with Internet Explorer Protected Mode specific app configuration

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Defense Impairment (TA0112)
ATT&CK Technique	Disable or Modify Tools (T1685)
Severity	Informational

Description

When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process (or any other program), the ElevationPolicy Registry key is checked to determine how the process should be launched. Internet Explorer will run a broker process with higher rights that can use the current user's permissions to take actions that would otherwise be prohibited when rendering content inside the Protected Mode sandbox. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2009/11/30/understanding-the-protected-mode-elevation-dialog/.

Attacker's Goals

• When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process, this key is checked to determine how the process should be launched.
• Attackers may change this value to make the process launch with higher privileges.

Investigative actions

• Check whether the injecting process is benign and if this was a desired behavior as part of its normal execution flow.