Ntdsutil Abuse — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems). Source status: test; severity: medium. Source dates: 2022-08-14 / not supplied.

{
  "product": "windows",
  "service": "application"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: 6fec3879ccc84431df9786aa0d951c1fda8afaf17244cf02e1b7c5ee2854c97a

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.

title: Ntdsutil Abuse
id: e6e88853-5f20-4c4a-8d26-cd469fd8d31f
status: test
description: Detects potential abuse of ntdsutil to dump ntds.dit database
references:
    - https://twitter.com/mgreen27/status/1558223256704122882
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/jj574207(v=ws.11)
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-08-14
tags:
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.t1003.003
logsource:
    product: windows
    service: application
    # warning: The 'data' field used in the detection section is the container for the event data as a whole. You may have to adapt the rule for your backend accordingly
detection:
    selection:
        Provider_Name: 'ESENT'
        EventID:
            - 216
            - 325
            - 326
            - 327
        Data|contains: 'ntds.dit'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate backup operation/creating shadow copies
level: medium

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Legitimate backup operation/creating shadow copies

Source references

• https://twitter.com/mgreen27/status/1558223256704122882
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/jj574207(v=ws.11)