Potentially Suspicious DMP/HDMP File Creation

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: category file_event, product windows
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the creation of a file with the ".dmp"/".hdmp" extension by a shell or scripting application such as "cmd", "powershell", etc. Often created by software during a crash. Memory dumps can sometimes contain sensitive information such as credentials. It's best to determine the source of the crash.

Known false positives

Some administrative PowerShell or VB scripts might have the ability to collect dumps and move them to other folders which might trigger a false positive.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	No specific technique

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 11: FileCreate

Rule body

title: Potentially Suspicious DMP/HDMP File Creation
id: aba15bdd-657f-422a-bab3-ac2d2a0d6f1c
related:
    - id: 3a525307-d100-48ae-b3b9-0964699d7f97
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects the creation of a file with the ".dmp"/".hdmp" extension by a shell or scripting application such as "cmd", "powershell", etc. Often created by software during a crash. Memory dumps can sometimes contain sensitive information such as credentials. It's best to determine the source of the crash.
references:
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/wer/collecting-user-mode-dumps
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-09-07
tags:
    - attack.stealth
logsource:
    category: file_event
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\cscript.exe'
            - '\mshta.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
            - '\pwsh.exe'
            - '\wscript.exe'
        TargetFilename|endswith:
            - '.dmp'
            - '.dump'
            - '.hdmp'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Some administrative PowerShell or VB scripts might have the ability to collect dumps and move them to other folders which might trigger a false positive.
level: medium
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_dump_file_susp_creation/info.yml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\cmd.exe'
        - '\cscript.exe'
        - '\mshta.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
        - '\pwsh.exe'
        - '\wscript.exe'
    TargetFilename|endswith:
        - '.dmp'
        - '.dump'
        - '.hdmp'

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`Image`	ends_with	`\cmd.exe` corpus 130 (sigma 130) `\cscript.exe` corpus 72 (sigma 72) `\mshta.exe` corpus 66 (sigma 66) `\powershell.exe` corpus 179 (sigma 178, kusto 1) `\pwsh.exe` corpus 165 (sigma 164, kusto 1) `\wscript.exe` corpus 74 (sigma 74)	`field:"Image" kind:ends_with`
`TargetFilename`	ends_with	`.dmp` corpus 5 (sigma 5) `.dump` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `.hdmp` corpus 2 (sigma 2)	`field:"TargetFilename" kind:ends_with`