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Credential Manager Access By Uncommon Applications

Detects suspicious processes based on name and location that access the windows credential manager and vault. Which can be a sign of credential stealing. Example case would be usage of mimikatz "dpapi::cred" function

MITRE ATT&CK

T1003

credential-access

Detection Query

selection:
  FileName|contains:
    - \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials\
    - \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials\
    - \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Vault\
    - \ProgramData\Microsoft\Vault\
filter_system_folders:
  Image|startswith:
    - C:\Program Files\
    - C:\Program Files (x86)\
    - C:\Windows\system32\
    - C:\Windows\SysWOW64\
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_*

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-10-11

Data Sources

windowsfile_access

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.t1003attack.credential-access

Raw Content

title: Credential Manager Access By Uncommon Applications
id: 407aecb1-e762-4acf-8c7b-d087bcff3bb6
status: test
description: |
    Detects suspicious processes based on name and location that access the windows credential manager and vault.
    Which can be a sign of credential stealing. Example case would be usage of mimikatz "dpapi::cred" function
references:
    - https://hunter2.gitbook.io/darthsidious/privilege-escalation/mimikatz
    - https://www.absolomb.com/2018-01-26-Windows-Privilege-Escalation-Guide/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-10-11
modified: 2024-07-29
tags:
    - attack.t1003
    - attack.credential-access
logsource:
    category: file_access
    product: windows
    definition: 'Requirements: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-File ETW provider'
detection:
    selection:
        FileName|contains:
            - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials\'
            - '\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials\'
            - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Vault\'
            - '\ProgramData\Microsoft\Vault\'
    filter_system_folders:
        Image|startswith:
            - 'C:\Program Files\'
            - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\'
            - 'C:\Windows\system32\'
            - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate software installed by the users for example in the "AppData" directory may access these files (for any reason).
# Increase level after false positives filters are good enough
level: medium