Malicious Registry Hive Dump of SAM or SYSTEM via Reg Save (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
- T1003.002Security Account Manager
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects reg.exe saving the SAM, SYSTEM or SECURITY registry hive to disk, which lets an attacker extract local credential material and boot keys for offline hash recovery. Registry hive dumping is a credential-access technique documented in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting these save commands surfaces local credential theft in progress.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Registry Hive Dump via Reg Save for Credential Theft

Malicious Registry Hive Dump of SAM or SYSTEM via Reg Save (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1003.002 · 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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