Iranian APT - Blinder Tunnel: ShelbyLoader V2 MicrosoftRuntime Run-Key Persistence
Detects the persistence mechanism used by ShelbyLoader V2 (RuntimeBroker.dll), the loader in the Iran-nexus Blinder Tunnel campaign (CL-STA-1178). The implant writes HKCU\...\Run\MicrosoftRuntime pointing at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\RuntimeBrokers\RuntimeBroker.exe, then re-asserts it hourly. The genuine RuntimeBroker.exe is a System32 COM broker that is never autostarted from a Run key, so matching either the implant’s value name or RuntimeBroker.exe in Run data gives a near-binary signal with no allow-list. Covers both the Unit 42 and Nextron variants.
Microsoft Sentinel (KQL)
