WDigest downgrade attack

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1h
Group by: Computer, Details, EventID, TargetObject
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

When the WDigest Authentication protocol is enabled, plain text passwords are stored in the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) exposing them to theft. This setting will prevent WDigest from storing credentials in memory. Ref: https://www.stigviewer.com/stig/windows_7/2016-12-19/finding/V-72753

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Credential Access	`T1003` OS Credential Dumping

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 13	RegistryEvent (Value Set)

Rule body kusto

id: f6502545-ae3a-4232-a8b0-79d87e5c98d7
name: WDigest downgrade attack
description: |
  'When the WDigest Authentication protocol is enabled, plain text passwords are stored in the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) exposing them to theft. This setting will prevent WDigest from storing credentials in memory.
  Ref: https://www.stigviewer.com/stig/windows_7/2016-12-19/finding/V-72753'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: WindowsSecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - CredentialAccess
relevantTechniques:
  - T1003
query: |
  Event
  | where EventLog =~ "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" and EventID in (13)
  | parse EventData with * 'TargetObject">' TargetObject "<" * 'Details">' Details "<" * 
  | where TargetObject=~"HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\SecurityProviders\\WDigest\\UseLogonCredential" and Details !="DWORD (0x00000000)"
  | summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated) by EventID, Computer,  TargetObject, Details
  | extend HostName = iif(Computer has '.',substring(Computer,0,indexof(Computer,'.')),Computer) , DnsDomain = iif(Computer has '.',substring(Computer,indexof(Computer,'.')+1),'')
entityMappings:
  - entityType: RegistryKey
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Key
        columnName: TargetObject
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Computer
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: DnsDomain
        columnName: DnsDomain
version: 1.0.3
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Event

Stage 2: `where`

| where EventLog =~ "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" and EventID in (13)

Stage 3: `parse`

| parse EventData with * 'TargetObject">' TargetObject "<" * 'Details">' Details "<" *

Stage 4: `where`

| where TargetObject=~"HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\SecurityProviders\\WDigest\\UseLogonCredential" and Details !="DWORD (0x00000000)"

Stage 5: `summarize`

| summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated) by EventID, Computer,  TargetObject, Details

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend HostName = iif(Computer has '.',substring(Computer,0,indexof(Computer,'.')),Computer) , DnsDomain = iif(Computer has '.',substring(Computer,indexof(Computer,'.')+1),'')

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`Details`	ne	`DWORD (0x00000000)` transforms: `cased`
`EventID`	in	`13` transforms: `cased` corpus 22 (splunk 18, kusto 4)
`EventLog`	eq	`Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational` corpus 10 (kusto 10)
`TargetObject`	eq	`HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\SecurityProviders\\WDigest\\UseLogonCredential`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`Computer`	`summarize`
`Details`	`summarize`
`EndTimeUtc`	`summarize`
`EventID`	`summarize`
`StartTimeUtc`	`summarize`
`TargetObject`	`summarize`
`DnsDomain`	`extend`
`HostName`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

WDigest downgrade attack

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `parse`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

WDigest downgrade attack

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: parse

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: summarize

Stage 6: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `parse`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `extend`