Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Hive Dump 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 use of reg.exe to save the SAM or SYSTEM registry hives to disk for offline credential extraction. This technique was observed in the APT41 intrusion targeting government IT services in Africa. Dumping these hives lets attackers recover local account password hashes and boot keys away from the host and is a strong precursor to lateral movement.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.002 — drag to rearrange

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

Suspicious SAM Registry Hive Dump to Windows Temp by BianLian

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Malicious SYSTEM Registry Hive Dump via reg.exe by Sandworm

Suspicious Registry SYSTEM Hive Dump via Reg Save (via process_creation)

Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Hive Dump via reg save

Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Hive Dump 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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