Active Directory Structure Export Via Ldifde.EXE

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

Detects the execution of "ldifde.exe" in order to export organizational Active Directory structure.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Exfiltration	No specific technique

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 1: Process creation

Rule body

title: Active Directory Structure Export Via Ldifde.EXE
id: 4f7a6757-ff79-46db-9687-66501a02d9ec
status: test
description: Detects the execution of "ldifde.exe" in order to export organizational Active Directory structure.
references:
    - https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/deep-dive-into-a-backdoordiplomacy-attack-a-study-of-an-attackers-toolkit
    - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5743766-Global-Threat-Report-2019.html
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/cc731033(v=ws.11)
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-03-14
tags:
    - attack.exfiltration
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_ldif:
        - Image|endswith: '\ldifde.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'ldifde.exe'
    selection_cmd:
        CommandLine|contains: '-f'
    filter_import:
        CommandLine|contains: ' -i'
    condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_*

Stage 1: `selection_ldif`

selection_ldif:
    - Image|endswith: '\ldifde.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'ldifde.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_cmd`

selection_cmd:
    CommandLine|contains: '-f'

Stage 3: `not filter_import`

filter_import:
    CommandLine|contains: ' -i'

Exclusions

The rule actively suppresses these predicates.

Field	Kind	Excluded values	Search
`CommandLine`	match	`-i`	`excludes:CommandLine` `field:"CommandLine" value:" -i"`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`CommandLine`	match	`-f` corpus 9 (sigma 7, splunk 2)	`field:"CommandLine" kind:match value:"-f"`
`Image`	ends_with	`\ldifde.exe` corpus 4 (sigma 4)	`field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\ldifde.exe"`
`OriginalFileName`	eq	`ldifde.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2)	`field:"OriginalFileName" kind:eq value:"ldifde.exe"`

Active Directory Structure Export Via Ldifde.EXE

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Telemetry coverage

Rule body

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_ldif

Stage 2: selection_cmd

Stage 3: not filter_import

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_ldif`

Stage 2: `selection_cmd`

Stage 3: `not filter_import`