Windows Export Certificate

Status: production
Severity: low
Group by: SubjectName, UserData_Xml, computer_name
Author: Michael Haag, Splunk
Source: github.com/splunk/security_content

The following analytic detects the export of a certificate from the Windows Certificate Store. It leverages the Certificates Lifecycle log channel, specifically event ID 1007, to identify this activity. Monitoring certificate exports is crucial as certificates can be used for authentication to VPNs or private resources. If malicious actors export certificates, they could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems or data, leading to significant security breaches.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Credential Access	`T1552.004` Unsecured Credentials: Private Keys, `T1649` Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
CertificateServicesClient-Lifecycle-System	Event ID 1007	A certificate has been exported.

Rule body splunk

name: Windows Export Certificate
id: d8ddfa9b-b724-4df9-9dbe-f34cc0936714
version: 11
creation_date: '2023-02-03'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Michael Haag, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects the export of a certificate from the Windows Certificate Store. It leverages the Certificates Lifecycle log channel, specifically event ID 1007, to identify this activity. Monitoring certificate exports is crucial as certificates can be used for authentication to VPNs or private resources. If malicious actors export certificates, they could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems or data, leading to significant security breaches.
data_source:
    - Windows Event Log CertificateServicesClient 1007
search: |-
    `certificateservices_lifecycle` EventCode=1007
      | xmlkv UserData_Xml
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY Computer, SubjectName, UserData_Xml
      | rename Computer as dest
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `windows_export_certificate_filter`
how_to_implement: To implement this analytic, you must collect Microsoft-Windows-CertificateServicesClient-Lifecycle-System/Operational or Microsoft-Windows-CertificateServicesClient-Lifecycle-User/Operational.
known_false_positives: False positives may be generated based on an automated process or service that exports certificates on the regular. Review is required before setting to alert. Monitor for abnormal processes performing an export.
references:
    - https://atomicredteam.io/defense-evasion/T1553.004/#atomic-test-4---install-root-ca-on-windows
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: An certificate was exported on $dest$ from the Windows Certificate Store.
analytic_story:
    - Windows Certificate Services
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1552.004
    - T1649
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1649/atomic_red_team/certificateservices-lifecycle.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-CertificateServicesClient-Lifecycle-System/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

`certificateservices_lifecycle` EventCode=1007

Stage 2: `xmlkv`

| xmlkv UserData_Xml

Stage 3: `stats`

| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
    BY Computer, SubjectName, UserData_Xml

Stage 4: `rename`

| rename Computer as dest

Stage 5: `search`

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

Stage 6: `search`

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

Stage 7: `search`

| `windows_export_certificate_filter`

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
`EventCode`	eq	`1007`

`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)

Windows Export Certificate

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body splunk

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

Stage 2: `xmlkv`

Stage 3: `stats`

Stage 4: `rename`

Stage 5: `search`

Stage 6: `search`

Stage 7: `search`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Windows Export Certificate

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body splunk

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

Stage 2: xmlkv

Stage 3: stats

Stage 4: rename

Stage 5: search

Stage 6: search

Stage 7: search

Indicators

Stage 1: `search`

Stage 2: `xmlkv`

Stage 3: `stats`

Stage 4: `rename`

Stage 5: `search`

Stage 6: `search`

Stage 7: `search`