Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Registry Hive Credential Dump via reg.exe (via process_creation)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-03
- Updated
- 2026-10-03
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 reg.exe saving the SAM, SYSTEM or SECURITY registry hives to disk. The BadPilot campaign exports these hives to extract local account password hashes offline, so a reg save targeting credential hives is a high-confidence credential access indicator.
Reporting behind it
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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Also included
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