Sigma rule: Ntdsutil Abuse

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-36a8f6520952, updated 2022-08-14T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Ntdsutil Abuse
Status: test
Level: medium
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date: 2022-08-14
File: rules/windows/builtin/application/esent/win_esent_ntdsutil_abuse.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential abuse of ntdsutil to dump ntds.dit database

Log source

product: windows
service: application

Detection

selection:
    Provider_Name: 'ESENT'
    EventID:
        - 216
        - 325
        - 326
        - 327
    Data|contains: 'ntds.dit'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Legitimate backup operation/creating shadow copies

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1003.003

References

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/builtin/application/esent/win_esent_ntdsutil_abuse.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Ntdsutil Abuse" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/application/esent/win_esent_ntdsutil_abuse.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Ntdsutil Abuse",
entity page, dataset version ref-36a8f6520952, updated 2022-08-14T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/e6e88853-5f20-4c4a-8d26-cd469fd8d31f (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule e6e88853-5f20-4c4a-8d26-cd469fd8d31f, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.