IFM Creation Detected from Commandline - Installation from Media (via process_creation)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-08-31
- Updated
- 2026-08-31
ATT&CK techniques
Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects create an IFM image (usually used for deploying domain controllers to reduce replication traffic) for dumping credentials.
Reporting behind it
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/003/
- blog.menasec.nethttps://blog.menasec.net/2019/11/forensics-traces-of-ntdsdit-dumping.html
- adsecurity.orghttps://adsecurity.org/?p=2398
- ired.teamhttps://www.ired.team/offensive-security/credential-access-and-credential-dumping/ntds.dit-enumeration
- docs.microsoft.comhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/cc753343(v=ws.11)
- microsoft.comhttps://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/11/08/threat-actor-dev-0322-exploiting-zoho-manageengine-adselfservice-plus/
- twitter.comhttps://twitter.com/JohnLaTwC/status/1416382178380767233?s=09
- thedfirreport.comhttps://thedfirreport.com/2021/10/04/bazarloader-and-the-conti-leaks/
- blog.talosintelligence.comhttps://blog.talosintelligence.com/2022/08/recent-cyber-attack.html
- microsoft.comhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/10/18/defenders-beware-a-case-for-post-ransomware-investigations/
- blog.sekoia.iohttps://blog.sekoia.io/lucky-mouse-incident-response-to-detection-engineering/
- media.defense.govhttps://media.defense.gov/2023/May/24/2003229517/-1/-1/0/CSA_Living_off_the_Land.PDF
- microsoft.comhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2023/05/24/volt-typhoon-targets-us-critical-infrastructure-with-living-off-the-land-techniques/
- thedfirreport.comhttps://thedfirreport.com/2023/10/30/netsupport-intrusion-results-in-domain-compromise/
- medium.comhttps://medium.com/@simone.kraus/part-2-sensor-mapping-reverse-engineering-ntds-a73bde69031e
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
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