IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates
will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the
current release documentation.
NTDS or SAM Database File Copied
editNTDS or SAM Database File Copied
editIdentifies a copy operation of the Active Directory Domain Database (ntds.dit) or Security Account Manager (SAM) files. Those files contain sensitive information including hashed domain and/or local credentials.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- winlogbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
- logs-windows.*
Severity: high
Risk score: 73
Runs every: 5m
Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)
Maximum alerts per execution: 33
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Host
- Windows
- Threat Detection
- Credential Access
Version: 9
Rule authors:
- Elastic
- Austin Songer
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Investigation guide
edit## Setup If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2, events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until 8.2, so you will need to add a custom pipeline to populate `event.ingested` to @timestamp for this rule to work.
Rule query
editprocess where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
(
(process.pe.original_file_name in ("Cmd.Exe", "PowerShell.EXE", "XCOPY.EXE") and
process.args : ("copy", "xcopy", "Copy-Item", "move", "cp", "mv")
) or
(process.pe.original_file_name : "esentutl.exe" and process.args : ("*/y*", "*/vss*", "*/d*"))
) and
process.args : ("*\\ntds.dit", "*\\config\\SAM", "\\*\\GLOBALROOT\\Device\\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy*\\*", "*/system32/config/SAM*")
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Credential Access
- ID: TA0006
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0006/
-
Technique:
- Name: OS Credential Dumping
- ID: T1003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/
-
Sub-technique:
- Name: Security Account Manager
- ID: T1003.002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/002/