Detection rules › YARA-L

Potential Credential Dumping Activity Via LSASS

Severity
medium
Type
Detection
Time window
5m
Match by
hostname
Author
Samir Bousseaden, Michael Haag
Source
github.com/chronicle/detection-rules

Detects process access requests to the LSASS process with specific call trace calls and access masks. This behaviour is expressed by many credential dumping tools such as Mimikatz, NanoDump, Invoke-Mimikatz, Procdump and even the Taskmgr dumping feature.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Credential AccessT1003.001 OS Credential Dumping: LSASS Memory

References

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 10ProcessAccess

Rule body yaral

/*
 * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

rule potential_credential_dumping_activity_via_lsass {

  meta:
    author = "Samir Bousseaden, Michael Haag"
    description = "Detects process access requests to the LSASS process with specific call trace calls and access masks. This behaviour is expressed by many credential dumping tools such as Mimikatz, NanoDump, Invoke-Mimikatz, Procdump and even the Taskmgr dumping feature."
    reference = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_access/proc_access_win_lsass_memdump.yml"
    license = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License/blob/main/LICENSE.Detection.Rules.md"
    rule_name = "Potential Credential Dumping Activity Via LSASS"
    sigma_uuid = "5ef9853e-4d0e-4a70-846f-a9ca37d876da"
    sigma_status = "experimental"
    rule_id = "mr_33474568-9a0a-4588-ba79-144ab7908f8e"
    tactic = "TA0006"
    technique = "T1003.001"
    type = "Detection"
    data_source = "Sysmon"
    platform = "Windows"
    severity = "Medium"
    priority = "Medium"
    false_positives = "Unknown"

  events:
    $process.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_OPEN"
    re.regex($process.target.process.file.full_path, `\\lsass\.exe$`) nocase
    (
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.resource.name), "0x1038") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.resource.name), "0x1438") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.resource.name), "0x143a") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.resource.name), "0x1fffff") //questionable, this one and others have been filtered out due to FP
    )
    (
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "dbgcore.dll") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "dbghelp.dll") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "kernel32.dll") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "kernelbase.dll") or
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "ntdll.dll")
    )
    NOT (
            strings.contains($process.principal.administrative_domain, "AUTHORI") or
            strings.contains($process.principal.administrative_domain, "AUTORI")
        )
    NOT (
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), ":\\windows\\temp\\asgard2-agent\\") and
        strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "\\thor\\thor64.exe+") and
        strings.contains(strings.to_upper($process.additional.fields["CallTrace"]), "|UNKNOWN(") and
        $process.target.resource.name = "0x103800" nocase
        )
    NOT re.regex($process.principal.process.file.full_path, `:\\Windows\\Sysmon64\.exe$`) nocase
    $process.principal.hostname = $hostname

  match:
    $hostname over 5m

  outcome:
    //example usage of specifying test hostname to adjust risk score
    $risk_score = max(if($process.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15))
    $principal_process_pid = array_distinct($process.principal.process.pid)
    $principal_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line)
    $principal_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256)
    $principal_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path)
    $principal_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
    $principal_process_parent_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
    $target_process_pid = array_distinct($process.target.process.pid)
    $target_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.target.process.command_line)
    $target_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256)
    $target_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path)
    $target_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
    $log_type = array_distinct(strings.concat($process.metadata.log_type,"/",$process.metadata.product_event_type))

  condition:
    $process
}

Detection logic

Fires when at least one $process event in the 5m window.

Events

$process PROCESS_OPEN (10)

  • target.process.file.full_path matches "\\lsass\.exe$"
  • target.resource.name contains "0x1038"
  • target.resource.name contains "0x1438"
  • target.resource.name contains "0x143a"
  • target.resource.name contains "0x1fffff"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "dbgcore.dll"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "dbghelp.dll"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "kernel32.dll"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "kernelbase.dll"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "ntdll.dll"
  • principal.administrative_domain contains "AUTHORI"
  • principal.administrative_domain contains "AUTORI"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains ":\\windows\\temp\\asgard2-agent\\"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "\\thor\\thor64.exe+"
  • additional.fields["CallTrace"] contains "|UNKNOWN("
  • target.resource.name = "0x103800"
  • principal.process.file.full_path matches ":\\Windows\\Sysmon64\.exe$"

Correlation

Match key
$hostname (principal.hostname)
Within
5m

Outcome

Fields the detection emits on a match. $risk_score drives alerting; Chronicle surfaces the rest on the detection.

FieldExpression
risk_scoremax(if($process.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15))
principal_process_pidarray_distinct($process.principal.process.pid)
principal_process_command_linearray_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line)
principal_process_file_sha256array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256)
principal_process_file_full_patharray_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path)
principal_process_product_specfic_process_idarray_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
principal_process_parent_process_product_specfic_process_idarray_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
target_process_pidarray_distinct($process.target.process.pid)
target_process_command_linearray_distinct($process.target.process.command_line)
target_process_file_sha256array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256)
target_process_file_full_patharray_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path)
target_process_product_specfic_process_idarray_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
log_typearray_distinct(strings.concat($process.metadata.log_type,"/",$process.metadata.product_event_type))