MITRE ATT&CK T1137.002: Office Test
When to use this skill
Use this skill when the task involves T1137.002, Office Test, enterprise ATT&CK, TTP mapping, detection engineering, hunting, incident-response enrichment, control validation, or authorized adversary-emulation planning. Treat it as a defensive analysis aid: keep outputs focused on understanding, detecting, mitigating, and safely validating this ATT&CK sub-technique.
Technique context
- ATT&CK domain: enterprise
- ATT&CK ID: T1137.002
- Technique name: Office Test
- Type: sub-technique
- ATT&CK URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1137/002
- Tactics: persistence
- Platforms: Windows, Office Suite
- Required permissions: Not specified
- Effective permissions: Not specified
- Defenses bypassed: Not specified
ATT&CK description
Adversaries may abuse the Microsoft Office "Office Test" Registry key to obtain persistence on a compromised system. An Office Test Registry location exists that allows a user to specify an arbitrary DLL that will be executed every time an Office application is started. This Registry key is thought to be used by Microsoft to load DLLs for testing and debugging purposes while developing Office applications. This Registry key is not created by default during an Office installation.(Citation: Hexacorn Office Test)(Citation: Palo Alto Office Test Sofacy)
There exist user and global Registry keys for the Office Test feature, such as:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office test\Special\Perf
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office test\Special\Perf
Adversaries may add this Registry key and specify a malicious DLL that will be executed whenever an Office application, such as Word or Excel, is started.
Agent workflow
- Clarify scope: identify the system, asset class, log sources, cloud or endpoint platform, and whether the user wants triage, detection, coverage assessment, or safe emulation planning.
- Load bundled resources as needed: use
references/technique-profile.json for structured metadata, references/detection-and-mitigation.md for triage and telemetry guidance, references/known-threat-context.md for ATT&CK relationship context, and templates/ for repeatable outputs.
- Map observations to ATT&CK: compare the user's evidence to the ATT&CK description, tactics, platforms, and known procedure patterns before asserting a match.
- Produce defensive outputs: prioritize hypotheses, telemetry requirements, detection logic ideas, validation steps, containment guidance, and mitigations.
- Preserve uncertainty: distinguish confirmed evidence, plausible indicators, assumptions, and gaps. Recommend what to collect next.
- Stay safe: do not provide malware, credential theft, persistence, evasion, destructive automation, or unauthorized exploitation instructions. For adversary emulation, keep steps bounded to approved lab or control-validation contexts and omit operational abuse details.
Bundled resources
references/technique-profile.json: machine-readable ATT&CK metadata for this technique.references/detection-and-mitigation.md: detection notes, telemetry checklist, triage questions, mitigation candidates, and false-positive considerations.references/known-threat-context.md: ATT&CK relationship context with attribution cautions.templates/detection-brief.md: detection engineering brief template.templates/hunt-plan.md: threat hunt plan template.templates/incident-response-note.md: incident response note template.templates/coverage-assessment.md: ATT&CK coverage assessment template.scripts/render_brief.py: local helper that renders a Markdown defensive brief from technique-profile.json.assets/output-schema.json: JSON schema for structured technique analysis outputs.
To generate a quick brief, run python scripts/render_brief.py --output brief.md from inside this skill directory, or adapt the templates directly.
Detection guidance
No ATT&CK detection guidance was present in the source STIX object.
Useful telemetry and data sources
- Not specified in the STIX object.
Mitigations to consider
- Behavior Prevention on Endpoint
- Software Configuration
Known threat context
Use these examples only as contextual leads, not as proof that an observed event is this technique:
Recommended output pattern
When responding with this skill, structure the answer as:
- Assessment: whether the evidence supports this ATT&CK mapping and why.
- Evidence: specific indicators, logs, behaviors, and assumptions.
- Detection: telemetry sources, analytic logic, and tuning considerations.
- Response: containment, eradication, recovery, and validation actions.
- Coverage gaps: missing logs, sensors, controls, or environmental details.
- References: include the ATT&CK URL and any user-provided evidence references.
1---2name: attack-ent-t1137-002-office-test3description: Analyze MITRE ATT&CK T1137.002 Office Test in the enterprise matrix. Use for TTP triage, detection engineering, hunting, defensive emulation planning, mitigations, incident response mapping, ATT&CK coverage, or questions mentioning T1137.002, Office Test, or enterprise ATT&CK. Adversaries may abuse the Microsoft Office "Office Test" Registry key to obtain persistence on a compromised system.4license: MITRE ATT&CK Terms of Use apply to ATT&CK-derived content. See h5---67# MITRE ATT&CK T1137.002: Office Test89## When to use this skill1011Use this skill when the task involves T1137.002, Office Test, enterprise ATT&CK, TTP mapping, detection engineering, hunting, incident-response enrichment, control validation, or authorized adversary-emulation planning. Treat it as a defensive analysis aid: keep outputs focused on understanding, detecting, mitigating, and safely validating this ATT&CK sub-technique.1213## Technique context1415- ATT&CK domain: enterprise16- ATT&CK ID: T1137.00217- Technique name: Office Test18- Type: sub-technique19- ATT&CK URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1137/00220- Tactics: persistence21- Platforms: Windows, Office Suite22- Required permissions: Not specified23- Effective permissions: Not specified24- Defenses bypassed: Not specified2526## ATT&CK description2728Adversaries may abuse the Microsoft Office "Office Test" Registry key to obtain persistence on a compromised system. An Office Test Registry location exists that allows a user to specify an arbitrary DLL that will be executed every time an Office application is started. This Registry key is thought to be used by Microsoft to load DLLs for testing and debugging purposes while developing Office applications. This Registry key is not created by default during an Office installation.(Citation: Hexacorn Office Test)(Citation: Palo Alto Office Test Sofacy)2930There exist user and global Registry keys for the Office Test feature, such as:3132* <code>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office test\Special\Perf</code>33* <code>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office test\Special\Perf</code>3435Adversaries may add this Registry key and specify a malicious DLL that will be executed whenever an Office application, such as Word or Excel, is started.3637## Agent workflow38391. Clarify scope: identify the system, asset class, log sources, cloud or endpoint platform, and whether the user wants triage, detection, coverage assessment, or safe emulation planning.402. Load bundled resources as needed: use `references/technique-profile.json` for structured metadata, `references/detection-and-mitigation.md` for triage and telemetry guidance, `references/known-threat-context.md` for ATT&CK relationship context, and `templates/` for repeatable outputs.413. Map observations to ATT&CK: compare the user's evidence to the ATT&CK description, tactics, platforms, and known procedure patterns before asserting a match.424. Produce defensive outputs: prioritize hypotheses, telemetry requirements, detection logic ideas, validation steps, containment guidance, and mitigations.435. Preserve uncertainty: distinguish confirmed evidence, plausible indicators, assumptions, and gaps. Recommend what to collect next.446. Stay safe: do not provide malware, credential theft, persistence, evasion, destructive automation, or unauthorized exploitation instructions. For adversary emulation, keep steps bounded to approved lab or control-validation contexts and omit operational abuse details.4546## Bundled resources4748- `references/technique-profile.json`: machine-readable ATT&CK metadata for this technique.49- `references/detection-and-mitigation.md`: detection notes, telemetry checklist, triage questions, mitigation candidates, and false-positive considerations.50- `references/known-threat-context.md`: ATT&CK relationship context with attribution cautions.51- `templates/detection-brief.md`: detection engineering brief template.52- `templates/hunt-plan.md`: threat hunt plan template.53- `templates/incident-response-note.md`: incident response note template.54- `templates/coverage-assessment.md`: ATT&CK coverage assessment template.55- `scripts/render_brief.py`: local helper that renders a Markdown defensive brief from `technique-profile.json`.56- `assets/output-schema.json`: JSON schema for structured technique analysis outputs.5758To generate a quick brief, run `python scripts/render_brief.py --output brief.md` from inside this skill directory, or adapt the templates directly.5960## Detection guidance6162No ATT&CK detection guidance was present in the source STIX object.6364## Useful telemetry and data sources6566- Not specified in the STIX object.6768## Mitigations to consider6970- Behavior Prevention on Endpoint71- Software Configuration7273## Known threat context7475Use these examples only as contextual leads, not as proof that an observed event is this technique:7677- APT28 (intrusion-set)7879## Recommended output pattern8081When responding with this skill, structure the answer as:8283- Assessment: whether the evidence supports this ATT&CK mapping and why.84- Evidence: specific indicators, logs, behaviors, and assumptions.85- Detection: telemetry sources, analytic logic, and tuning considerations.86- Response: containment, eradication, recovery, and validation actions.87- Coverage gaps: missing logs, sensors, controls, or environmental details.88- References: include the ATT&CK URL and any user-provided evidence references.
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