Sigma rule: NTDS.DIT Creation By Uncommon Parent Process

Rule

Title

NTDS.DIT Creation By Uncommon Parent Process

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-03-11

Modified

2023-01-05

File

rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_ntds_dit_uncommon_parent_process.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects creation of a file named "ntds.dit" (Active Directory Database) by an uncommon parent process or directory

Log source

product

windows

category

file_event

definition

Requirements: The "ParentImage" field is not available by default on EID 11 of Sysmon logs. To be able to use this rule to the full extent you need to enrich the log with additional ParentImage data

Detection

selection_file:
    TargetFilename|endswith: '\ntds.dit'
selection_process_parent:
    # Note: ParentImage is a custom field and is not available by default on Sysmon EID 11
    ParentImage|endswith:
        - '\cscript.exe'
        - '\httpd.exe'
        - '\nginx.exe'
        - '\php-cgi.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
        - '\pwsh.exe'
        - '\w3wp.exe'
        - '\wscript.exe'
selection_process_parent_path:
    # Note: ParentImage is a custom field and is not available by default on Sysmon EID 11
    ParentImage|contains:
        - '\apache'
        - '\tomcat'
        - '\AppData\'
        - '\Temp\'
        - '\Public\'
        - '\PerfLogs\'
condition: selection_file and 1 of selection_process_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

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

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1003.003

Related rules

• 11b1ed55-154d-4e82-8ad7-83739298f720 (similar)

References

• https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/credential-access-and-credential-dumping/ntds.dit-enumeration
• https://www.n00py.io/2022/03/manipulating-user-passwords-without-mimikatz/
• https://pentestlab.blog/tag/ntds-dit/
• https://github.com/samratashok/nishang/blob/414ee1104526d7057f9adaeee196d91ae447283e/Gather/Copy-VSS.ps1

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/file/file_event/file_event_win_ntds_dit_uncommon_parent_process.yml