Sigma rule: Renamed AdFind Execution

Rule

Title

Renamed AdFind Execution

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-08-21

Modified

2025-02-26

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_renamed_adfind.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the use of a renamed Adfind.exe. AdFind continues to be seen across majority of breaches. It is used to domain trust discovery to plan out subsequent steps in the attack chain.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_1:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'domainlist'
        - 'trustdmp'
        - 'dcmodes'
        - 'adinfo'
        - ' dclist '
        - 'computer_pwdnotreqd'
        - 'objectcategory='
        - '-subnets -f'
        - 'name="Domain Admins"'
        - '-sc u:'
        - 'domainncs'
        - 'dompol'
        - ' oudmp '
        - 'subnetdmp'
        - 'gpodmp'
        - 'fspdmp'
        - 'users_noexpire'
        - 'computers_active'
        - 'computers_pwdnotreqd'
selection_2:
    Hashes|contains:
        - 'IMPHASH=BCA5675746D13A1F246E2DA3C2217492'
        - 'IMPHASH=53E117A96057EAF19C41380D0E87F1C2'
        - 'IMPHASH=d144de8117df2beceaba2201ad304764'
        - 'IMPHASH=12ce1c0f3f5837ecc18a3782408fa975'
        - 'IMPHASH=4fbf3f084fbbb2470b80b2013134df35'
        - 'IMPHASH=49b639b4acbecc49d72a01f357aa4930'
        - 'IMPHASH=680dad9e300346e05a85023965867201'
        - 'IMPHASH=21aa085d54992511b9f115355e468782'
selection_3:
    OriginalFileName: 'AdFind.exe'
filter:
    Image|endswith: '\AdFind.exe'
condition: 1 of selection* and not filter

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.discovery
• attack.t1018
• attack.t1087.002
• attack.t1482
• attack.t1069.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1018
• T1069.002
• T1087.002
• T1482

References

• https://www.joeware.net/freetools/tools/adfind/
• https://thedfirreport.com/2020/05/08/adfind-recon/
• https://thedfirreport.com/2021/01/11/trickbot-still-alive-and-well/
• https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/01/20/deep-dive-into-the-solorigate-second-stage-activation-from-sunburst-to-teardrop-and-raindrop/
• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7535.adfind-command-examples.aspx
• https://github.com/center-for-threat-informed-defense/adversary_emulation_library/blob/bf62ece1c679b07b5fb49c4bae947fe24c81811f/fin6/Emulation_Plan/Phase1.md

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_renamed_adfind.yml