Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: LSASS Driver T1547.008

Tactics: Persistence, Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may modify or add LSASS drivers to obtain persistence on compromised systems. The Windows security subsystem is a set of components that manage and enforce the security policy for a computer or domain. The Local Security Authority (LSA) is the main component responsible for local security policy and user authentication. The LSA includes multiple dynamic link libraries (DLLs) associated with various other security functions, all of which run in the context of the LSA Subsystem Service (LSASS) lsass.exe process.

Events covered

6 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.

Authoring guide

Patterns shared across the 4 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.

Fields filtered most (6 distinct)

The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.

FieldRulesHowSample values
Image2ends_with 1, eq 1\reg.exe, c:\windows\system32\lsass.exe
CommandLine1contains 1\system\currentcontrolset\control\lsa, reg add, security packages
Details1eq 1%%systemroot%%\system32\lsadb.dll, %%systemroot%%\system32\ntdsa.dll
SecurityPackageName1contains 1\windows\system32\cloudap.dll, \windows\system32\kerberos.dll, \windows\system32\lsasrv.dll
TargetObject1contains 1\currentcontrolset\services\ntds\directoryserviceextpt, \currentcontrolset\services\ntds\lsadbextpt
registry_path1in 1*\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\NTDS\\DirectoryServiceExtPt, *\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\NTDS\\LsaDbExtPt

Top indicator values (20 distinct)

Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.

FieldKindValueRules (here)Corpus reach
CommandLinecontains
\system\currentcontrolset\control\lsa
14
CommandLinecontains
reg add
114
CommandLinecontains
security packages
1
Detailseq
%%systemroot%%\system32\lsadb.dll
1
Detailseq
%%systemroot%%\system32\ntdsa.dll
1
Imageends_with
\reg.exe
158
Imageeq
c:\windows\system32\lsass.exe
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\cloudap.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\kerberos.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\lsasrv.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\msv1_0.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\negoexts.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\pku2u.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\schannel.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\tspkg.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\wdigest.dll
1
TargetObjectcontains
\currentcontrolset\services\ntds\directoryserviceextpt
1
TargetObjectcontains
\currentcontrolset\services\ntds\lsadbextpt
1
registry_pathin
*\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\NTDS\\DirectoryServiceExtPt
1
registry_pathin
*\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\NTDS\\LsaDbExtPt
1

Exclusions (12 distinct)

Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.

FieldKindValueRules excluding
Detailseq
%%systemroot%%\system32\lsadb.dll
1
Detailseq
%%systemroot%%\system32\ntdsa.dll
1
Imageeq
c:\windows\system32\lsass.exe
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\cloudap.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\kerberos.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\lsasrv.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\msv1_0.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\negoexts.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\pku2u.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\schannel.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\tspkg.dll
1
SecurityPackageNamecontains
\windows\system32\wdigest.dll
1

Rules under this technique

Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.

Platform (all)
Domain (all)

Sigma 3 rules

Splunk 1 rule