Sigma rule: Potential Access Token Abuse

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-308fe1db4d93, updated 2023-04-26T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potential Access Token Abuse
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Michaela Adams, Zach Mathis
Date
2022-11-06
Modified
2023-04-26
File
rules/windows/builtin/security/account_management/win_security_access_token_abuse.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential token impersonation and theft. Example, when using "DuplicateToken(Ex)" and "ImpersonateLoggedOnUser" with the "LOGON32_LOGON_NEW_CREDENTIALS flag".

Log source

product
windows
service
security

Detection

selection:
    EventID: 4624
    LogonType: 9
    LogonProcessName: 'Advapi'
    AuthenticationPackageName: 'Negotiate'
    ImpersonationLevel: '%%1833' # Impersonation
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Anti-Virus

Tags

  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1134.001
  • stp.4u

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/security/account_management/win_security_access_token_abuse.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potential Access Token Abuse" by Michaela Adams, Zach Mathis (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/security/account_management/win_security_access_token_abuse.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Potential Access Token Abuse",
entity page, dataset version ref-308fe1db4d93, updated 2023-04-26T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/02f7c9c1-1ae8-4c6a-8add-04693807f92f (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 02f7c9c1-1ae8-4c6a-8add-04693807f92f, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.