Sigma rule: Potential LSASS Process Dump Via Procdump

Rule

Title

Potential LSASS Process Dump Via Procdump

Status

stable

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Date

2018-10-30

Modified

2025-10-19

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_sysinternals_procdump_lsass.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential credential harvesting attempts through LSASS memory dumps using ProcDump.
This rule identifies suspicious command-line patterns that combine memory dump flags (-ma, -mm, -mp) with LSASS-related process markers.
LSASS (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service) contains sensitive authentication data including plaintext passwords, NTLM hashes, and Kerberos tickets in memory.
Attackers commonly dump LSASS memory to extract credentials for lateral movement and privilege escalation.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_flags:
    CommandLine|contains|windash:
        - ' -ma '
        - ' -mm ' # Mini dump
        - ' -mp ' # Miniplus dump
selection_process:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' ls' # Short for lsass
        - ' keyiso'
        - ' samss'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unlikely, because no one should dump an lsass process memory
• Another tool that uses command line flags similar to ProcDump

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1036
• attack.credential-access
• attack.t1003.001
• car.2013-05-009

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1003.001
• T1036

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procdump
• https://research.splunk.com/endpoint/3742ebfe-64c2-11eb-ae93-0242ac130002
• https://x.com/wietze/status/1958302556033065292?s=12

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_sysinternals_procdump_lsass.yml