Malicious SYSTEM Registry Hive Dump via reg.exe by Sandworm

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 HKLM SYSTEM hive to a file, a credential access step Sandworm uses to obtain secrets for offline extraction. Exporting registry hives is a common precursor to dumping cached secrets and boot keys.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Mimikatz Credential Access Module Invocation

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

Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Hive Dump via reg save

Malicious SYSTEM Registry Hive Dump via reg.exe by Sandworm

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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