Elastic Security Detection Rules

NTDS or SAM Database File Copied

Last updated a year ago on 2025-03-20
Created 5 years ago on 2020-11-24

About

Identifies 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.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Credential AccessData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: SentinelOneData Source: SysmonData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

Credential Access (TA0006)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ OS Credential Dumping (T1003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

windows(external, opens in a new tab or window)

system(external, opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(external, opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(external, opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  (
    ((?process.pe.original_file_name in ("Cmd.Exe", "PowerShell.EXE", "XCOPY.EXE") or process.name : ("Cmd.Exe", "PowerShell.EXE", "XCOPY.EXE")) and
       process.args : ("copy", "xcopy", "Copy-Item", "move", "cp", "mv")
    ) or
    ((?process.pe.original_file_name : "esentutl.exe" or process.name : "esentutl.exe") and process.args : ("*/y*", "*/vss*", "*/d*"))
  ) and
  process.command_line : ("*\\ntds.dit*", "*\\config\\SAM*", "*\\*\\GLOBALROOT\\Device\\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy*\\*", "*/system32/config/SAM*", "*\\User Data\\*")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect NTDS or SAM Database File Copied in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).