System Binary Proxy Execution: Regsvcs/Regasm

Adversaries may abuse Regsvcs and Regasm to proxy execution of code through a trusted Windows utility. Regsvcs and Regasm are Windows command-line utilities that are used to register .NET Component Object Model (COM) assemblies. Both are binaries that may be digitally signed by Microsoft. [1] [2]

Both utilities may be used to bypass application control through use of attributes within the binary to specify code that should be run before registration or unregistration: [ComRegisterFunction] or [ComUnregisterFunction] respectively. The code with the registration and unregistration attributes will be executed even if the process is run under insufficient privileges and fails to execute. [3][4]

ID: T1218.009
Sub-technique of:  T1218
Tactic: Defense Evasion
Platforms: Windows
Permissions Required: Administrator, User
Defense Bypassed: Application control, Digital Certificate Validation
Contributors: Casey Smith
Version: 2.0
Created: 23 January 2020
Last Modified: 11 March 2022

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0331 Agent Tesla

Agent Tesla has dropped RegAsm.exe onto systems for performing malicious activity.[5]

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1042 Disable or Remove Feature or Program

Regsvcs and Regasm may not be necessary within a given environment.

M1038 Execution Prevention

Block execution of Regsvcs.exe and Regasm.exe if they are not required for a given system or network to prevent potential misuse by adversaries.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component Detects
DS0017 Command Command Execution

Command arguments used before and after Regsvcs.exe or Regasm.exe invocation may also be useful in determining the origin and purpose of the binary being executed.

DS0009 Process Process Creation

Use process monitoring to monitor the execution and arguments of Regsvcs.exe and Regasm.exe. Compare recent invocations of Regsvcs.exe and Regasm.exe with prior history of known good arguments and executed binaries to determine anomalous and potentially adversarial activity.

References