sigmamediumHunting

LiveKD Driver Creation

Detects the creation of the LiveKD driver, which is used for live kernel debugging

Detection Query

selection:
  TargetFilename: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\LiveKdD.SYS
  Image|endswith:
    - \livekd.exe
    - \livek64.exe
condition: selection

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2023-05-16

Data Sources

windowsFile Events

Platforms

windows

References

Internal Research

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.privilege-escalation

Raw Content

title: LiveKD Driver Creation
id: 16fe46bb-4f64-46aa-817d-ff7bec4a2352
status: test
description: Detects the creation of the LiveKD driver, which is used for live kernel debugging
references:
    - Internal Research
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-05-16
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.privilege-escalation
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: file_event
detection:
    selection:
        TargetFilename: 'C:\Windows\System32\drivers\LiveKdD.SYS'
        Image|endswith:
            - '\livekd.exe'
            - '\livek64.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate usage of LiveKD for debugging purposes will also trigger this
level: medium