Malicious IcedID AdFind Active Directory Reconnaissance via Command Line

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1018Remote System Discovery
- T1087.002Domain Account
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of the AdFind utility used to enumerate Active Directory objects, trusts and subnets. This behavior is associated with IcedID hands-on-keyboard reconnaissance preceding Quantum ransomware deployment. Operators use AdFind to map the domain before lateral movement, making its presence in interactive sessions a strong hunting signal.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1087.002 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious SOAPHound Style LDAP Query with SDflags and all_with_list via security

Suspicious Remote Connection to ADWS Port 9389 via security

Suspicious AdFind Active Directory Reconnaissance Tool Execution (via process_creation)

Suspicious Active Directory Enumeration via ADWS PowerShell Cmdlets via ps_script

Windows Process Creation: Renamed AdFind.exe Executions

PowerShell: Active Directory computer enumeration via Get-AdComputer

Windows Process Creation: AdFind Executed with Suspicious Recon Flags

Windows Process Creation: Execution of Net.exe or Net1.exe

Suspicious ADFind Active Directory Enumeration (via process_creation)

Malicious IcedID AdFind Active Directory Reconnaissance via Command Line

Pivot detection · T1087.002 · 9 related

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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