Detection: Windows Chrome Auto-Update Disabled via Registry

Updated Date: 2026-01-12 ID: 619eac6c-0f03-4699-ae29-5f337877bcf9 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects modifications to Windows registry values that disable Google Chrome auto-updates. Changes to values such as DisableAutoUpdateChecksCheckboxValue = 1, Update{8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96} = 0, UpdateDefault = 0, and AutoUpdateCheckPeriodMinutes = 0 can prevent Chrome from receiving security updates. This behavior may indicate attempts to bypass update policies, maintain unauthorized extensions, or facilitate malware persistence. Monitoring these registry changes helps identify potential policy violations or malicious activity targeting browser security.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry
 3
 4where Registry.registry_path = "*\\Google\\Update*"
 5      AND
 6      (
 7        Registry.registry_value_name = "DisableAutoUpdateChecksCheckboxValue"
 8        Registry.registry_value_data = 0x00000001
 9      )
10      OR
11      (
12        Registry.registry_value_name  IN (
13          "AutoUpdateCheckPeriodMinutes",
14          "Update{8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}",
15          "UpdateDefault"
16        )
17        Registry.registry_value_data = 0x00000000
18      )
19
20by Registry.action Registry.dest Registry.process_guid Registry.process_id
21   Registry.registry_hive Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_key_name
22   Registry.registry_value_data Registry.registry_value_name
23   Registry.registry_value_type Registry.status Registry.user Registry.vendor_product
24
25
26| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)`
27
28| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
29
30| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
31
32| `windows_chrome_auto_update_disabled_via_registry_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Sysmon EventID 13	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
windows_chrome_auto_update_disabled_via_registry_filter	`search *`

windows_chrome_auto_update_disabled_via_registry_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1185	Browser Session Hijacking	Collection

Exploitation

DE.AE

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the registry value name, registry path, and registry value data from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 2.0 of the official Sysmon TA. https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/5709

Known False Positives

IT administrators intentionally disabling auto-updates in managed environments for testing, compatibility, or deployment purposes.

Associated Analytic Story

Browser Hijacking

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Chrome Auto-update in $registry_path$ was disabled on $dest$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	20	No Threat Objects

References

https://www.gdatasoftware.com/blog/2025/11/38298-learning-about-browser-hijacking

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 1