Sigma rule: Critical Hive In Suspicious Location Access Bits Cleared

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-d259ae1d8216, updated 2024-01-18T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Critical Hive In Suspicious Location Access Bits Cleared
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2017-05-15
Modified
2024-01-18
File
rules/windows/builtin/system/microsoft_windows_kernel_general/win_system_susp_critical_hive_location_access_bits_cleared.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects events from the Kernel-General ETW indicating that the access bits of a hive with a system like hive name located in the temp directory have been reset.
This occurs when an application tries to access a hive and the hive has not be recognized since the last 7 days (by default).
Registry hive dumping utilities such as QuarksPwDump were seen emitting this behavior.

Log source

product
windows
service
system

Detection

selection:
    EventID: 16
    Provider_Name: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-General
    HiveName|contains:
        - '\Temp\SAM'
        - '\Temp\SECURITY'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.credential-access
  • attack.t1003.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

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/system/microsoft_windows_kernel_general/win_system_susp_critical_hive_location_access_bits_cleared.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Critical Hive In Suspicious Location Access Bits Cleared" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/system/microsoft_windows_kernel_general/win_system_susp_critical_hive_location_access_bits_cleared.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: Critical Hive In Suspicious Location Access Bits Cleared",
entity page, dataset version ref-d259ae1d8216, updated 2024-01-18T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/39f919f3-980b-4e6f-a975-8af7e507ef2b (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 39f919f3-980b-4e6f-a975-8af7e507ef2b, 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.