Sigma rule: Potential Recon Activity Via Nltest.EXE

Rule

Title

Potential Recon Activity Via Nltest.EXE

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Craig Young, oscd.community, Georg Lauenstein

Date

2021-07-24

Modified

2023-12-15

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_nltest_recon.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects nltest commands that can be used for information discovery

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_nltest:
    - Image|endswith: '\nltest.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'nltestrk.exe'
selection_recon:
    - CommandLine|contains|all:
          - 'server'
          - 'query'
    - CommandLine|contains:
          - '/user'
          - 'all_trusts' # Flag for /domain_trusts
          - 'dclist:'
          - 'dnsgetdc:'
          - 'domain_trusts'
          - 'dsgetdc:'
          - 'parentdomain'
          - 'trusted_domains'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administration use but user and host must be investigated

Tags

• attack.discovery
• attack.t1016
• attack.t1482

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1016
• T1482

Related rules

• 410ad193-a728-4107-bc79-4419789fcbf8 (similar)
• 903076ff-f442-475a-b667-4f246bcc203b (similar)
• 77815820-246c-47b8-9741-e0def3f57308 (obsolete)

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/cc731935(v=ws.11)
• https://thedfirreport.com/2021/08/16/trickbot-leads-up-to-fake-1password-installation/
• https://thedfirreport.com/2020/10/18/ryuk-in-5-hours/
• https://book.hacktricks.xyz/windows/basic-cmd-for-pentesters
• https://research.nccgroup.com/2022/08/19/back-in-black-unlocking-a-lockbit-3-0-ransomware-attack/
• https://eqllib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/analytics/03e231a6-74bc-467a-acb1-e5676b0fb55e.html
• https://redcanary.com/blog/how-one-hospital-thwarted-a-ryuk-ransomware-outbreak/
• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/5360c9d9ffa3b25f6495f7a16e267b719eba2c37/atomics/T1482/T1482.md#atomic-test-2---windows---discover-domain-trusts-with-nltest

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_nltest_recon.yml