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Feature Request: Add Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational to natively collected Windows event channels #2446

Description

@doit4everyone

Describe the feature

The UTMStack Windows agent (v11.2.12 CE) does not collect the
Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational event channel. The channel
list is hardcoded in the agent binary.

Confirmed via binary analysis on utmstack_agent_service_windows_amd64.exe:

  • ForwardedEvents → present ✅
  • Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational → absent ❌

Use Case

Sysmon is an industry standard for endpoint telemetry, widely deployed
in SOC environments. Without native collection, Sysmon-based correlation
rules (ProcessCreate, NetworkConnect, LSASS access, named pipes, registry
persistence) require a WEF workaround that is complex to deploy and fails
on Windows 11 clients (OS-level restriction, error 2150859027 — confirmed
on Windows 11 24H2).

Windows Server 2022/2025 and Domain Controllers work with the WEF
workaround, but Windows 11 workstations — the majority of endpoints in
SMB environments — cannot use it.

Proposed Solution

Option 1 (preferred): Add Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational to the
list of natively collected Windows event channels in the agent binary.

Option 2: Provide a configuration mechanism to add custom event channels
without recompiling the agent — similar to a winlogbeat.yml approach.

Other Information

Environment:

  • UTMStack CE v11.2.12
  • Sysmon v15.21, schema 4.91

Current workaround: Windows Event Forwarding (WEF) self-subscription
Each machine runs a local WEF subscription that forwards
Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational events to its own ForwardedEvents
channel, which IS natively collected by the UTMStack agent.

Deployment: GPO script (Deploy-WEF-Sysmon-GPO.ps1) that:

  1. Configures WinRM and Wecsvc
  2. Sets ACL on Sysmon channel (Custom isolation requires explicit
    Network Service permission)
  3. Fixes WinRM URL ACLs (netsh http delete/add urlacl)
  4. Creates a SourceInitiated self-subscription via wecutil

Results:

  • Windows Server 2022/2025: workaround works ✅
  • Domain Controllers (Server 2025): workaround works ✅
  • Windows 11 24H2: workaround fails ❌
    Error 2150859027: /SubscriptionManager/WEC endpoint not exposed
    on Windows client SKUs — Wecsvc refuses to register as a local
    subscription source. Confirmed on two distinct Windows 11 machines
    after exhaustive diagnosis (DNS, firewall, URL ACL, SvcHostSplitDisable,
    VBScript deprecation — all eliminated).

Full documentation and lab context:
https://doit4everyone.github.io/utmstack-lab/

Acknowledgements

  • I may be able to implement this feature request
  • This feature might incur a breaking change

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