Sigma rule: Shadow Copies Creation Using Operating Systems Utilities

Rule

Title

Shadow Copies Creation Using Operating Systems Utilities

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Teymur Kheirkhabarov, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community

Date

2019-10-22

Modified

2022-11-10

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_shadow_copies_creation.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Shadow Copies creation using operating systems utilities, possible credential access

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\powershell.exe'
          - '\pwsh.exe'
          - '\wmic.exe'
          - '\vssadmin.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'PowerShell.EXE'
          - 'pwsh.dll'
          - 'wmic.exe'
          - 'VSSADMIN.EXE'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'shadow'
        - 'create'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administrator working with shadow copies, access for backup purposes

Tags

• attack.credential-access
• attack.t1003
• attack.t1003.002
• attack.t1003.003

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1003
• T1003.002
• T1003.003

References

• https://www.slideshare.net/heirhabarov/hunting-for-credentials-dumping-in-windows-environment
• https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/tutorial-for-ntds-goodness-vssadmin-wmis-ntdsdit-system/

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_susp_shadow_copies_creation.yml