Potential Active Directory Enumeration Using AD Module - PsScript

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: product windows, category ps_script
Author: frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects usage of the "Import-Module" cmdlet to load the "Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dl" DLL. Which is often used by attackers to perform AD enumeration.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Reconnaissance	No specific technique
Discovery	No specific technique
Impact	No specific technique

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
PowerShell	Event ID 4104	Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal).

Rule body yaml

title: Potential Active Directory Enumeration Using AD Module - PsScript
id: 9e620995-f2d8-4630-8430-4afd89f77604
related:
    - id: 70bc5215-526f-4477-963c-a47a5c9ebd12
      type: similar
    - id: 74176142-4684-4d8a-8b0a-713257e7df8e
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects usage of the "Import-Module" cmdlet to load the "Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dl" DLL. Which is often used by attackers to perform AD enumeration.
references:
    - https://github.com/samratashok/ADModule
    - https://twitter.com/cyb3rops/status/1617108657166061568?s=20
    - https://www.ired.team/offensive-security-experiments/active-directory-kerberos-abuse/active-directory-enumeration-with-ad-module-without-rsat-or-admin-privileges
author: frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali
date: 2023-01-22
tags:
    - attack.reconnaissance
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.impact
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: ps_script
    definition: 'Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enable'
detection:
    selection_generic:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - 'Import-Module '
            - 'Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dll'
    selection_specific:
        ScriptBlockText|contains: 'ipmo Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dll'
    condition: 1 of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of the library for administrative activity
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

1 of selection_*

Stage 1: `selection_generic`

selection_generic:
    ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
        - 'Import-Module '
        - 'Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dll'

Stage 2: `selection_specific`

selection_specific:
    ScriptBlockText|contains: 'ipmo Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dll'

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
`ScriptBlockText`	match	`Import-Module` `Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dll` `ipmo Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.dll`

`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)

Potential Active Directory Enumeration Using AD Module - PsScript

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_generic`

Stage 2: `selection_specific`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Potential Active Directory Enumeration Using AD Module - PsScript

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_generic

Stage 2: selection_specific

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_generic`

Stage 2: `selection_specific`