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Renamed AdFind Execution — Sigma Rule

Sigma rule df55196f-f105-44d3-a675-e9dfb6cc2f2b. Renamed AdFind Execution — Sigma Rule. Detects the use of a renamed Adfind.exe. AdFind continues to be seen across majority of breaches. It is used to domain trust discovery to plan out subsequent steps in the attack chain.

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems). Source status: test; severity: high. Source dates: 2022-08-21 / 2025-02-26.

Original logsource
{
  "category": "process_creation",
  "product": "windows"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: de5ed6c633d7343fe767264ee78b0882ba87721feb9f851c7aac40b178a68a5f

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

Original Sigma rule YAML, scroll horizontally if needed
title: Renamed AdFind Execution
id: df55196f-f105-44d3-a675-e9dfb6cc2f2b
status: test
description: Detects the use of a renamed Adfind.exe. AdFind continues to be seen across majority of breaches. It is used to domain trust discovery to plan out subsequent steps in the attack chain.
references:
    - https://www.joeware.net/freetools/tools/adfind/
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2020/05/08/adfind-recon/
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2021/01/11/trickbot-still-alive-and-well/
    - https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/01/20/deep-dive-into-the-solorigate-second-stage-activation-from-sunburst-to-teardrop-and-raindrop/
    - https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7535.adfind-command-examples.aspx
    - https://github.com/center-for-threat-informed-defense/adversary_emulation_library/blob/bf62ece1c679b07b5fb49c4bae947fe24c81811f/fin6/Emulation_Plan/Phase1.md
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-08-21
modified: 2025-02-26
tags:
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.t1018
    - attack.t1087.002
    - attack.t1482
    - attack.t1069.002
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_1:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'domainlist'
            - 'trustdmp'
            - 'dcmodes'
            - 'adinfo'
            - ' dclist '
            - 'computer_pwdnotreqd'
            - 'objectcategory='
            - '-subnets -f'
            - 'name="Domain Admins"'
            - '-sc u:'
            - 'domainncs'
            - 'dompol'
            - ' oudmp '
            - 'subnetdmp'
            - 'gpodmp'
            - 'fspdmp'
            - 'users_noexpire'
            - 'computers_active'
            - 'computers_pwdnotreqd'
    selection_2:
        Hashes|contains:
            - 'IMPHASH=BCA5675746D13A1F246E2DA3C2217492'
            - 'IMPHASH=53E117A96057EAF19C41380D0E87F1C2'
            - 'IMPHASH=d144de8117df2beceaba2201ad304764'
            - 'IMPHASH=12ce1c0f3f5837ecc18a3782408fa975'
            - 'IMPHASH=4fbf3f084fbbb2470b80b2013134df35'
            - 'IMPHASH=49b639b4acbecc49d72a01f357aa4930'
            - 'IMPHASH=680dad9e300346e05a85023965867201'
            - 'IMPHASH=21aa085d54992511b9f115355e468782'
    selection_3:
        OriginalFileName: 'AdFind.exe'
    filter:
        Image|endswith: '\AdFind.exe'
    condition: 1 of selection* and not filter
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_renamed_adfind/info.yml

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

  • Unknown

Source references

Connected ecosystem references

Exact source-tagged techniques

Telemetry review

Read the original logsource above, then inspect the linked detection workspaces for technique-level sensor context. No per-rule telemetry equivalence is inferred.

Pinned research references. No browser attack runner or production-validated detector is asserted. Imported procedures remain unvalidated; any bounded lab evidence has its own scope. ATT&CK / Atomic provenance · Detection provenance.