Sigma rule: Invocation of Active Directory Diagnostic Tool (ntdsutil.exe)

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-6a410a0dedc5, updated 2022-03-11T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Invocation of Active Directory Diagnostic Tool (ntdsutil.exe)
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Thomas Patzke
Date
2019-01-16
Modified
2022-03-11
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_ntdsutil_usage.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of ntdsutil.exe, which can be used for various attacks against the NTDS database (NTDS.DIT)

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\ntdsutil.exe'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • NTDS maintenance

Tags

  • attack.credential-access
  • attack.t1003.003

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/process_creation/proc_creation_win_ntdsutil_usage.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Invocation of Active Directory Diagnostic Tool (ntdsutil.exe)" by Thomas Patzke (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_ntdsutil_usage.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: Invocation of Active Directory Diagnostic Tool (ntdsutil.exe)",
entity page, dataset version ref-6a410a0dedc5, updated 2022-03-11T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/2afafd61-6aae-4df4-baed-139fa1f4c345 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 2afafd61-6aae-4df4-baed-139fa1f4c345, 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.