Malicious WDigest UseLogonCredential Enablement For Credential Theft
- Product
- windows
- Category
- registry_set
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-05-09
- Updated
- 2026-08-28
ATT&CK techniques
Persistence → Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects the registry modification that sets WDigest UseLogonCredential to 1, forcing Windows to keep cleartext credentials in LSASS memory. The Qilin ransomware group enables this before dumping credentials to escalate and move laterally. Re-enabling plaintext credential caching is a deliberate precursor to LSASS harvesting.
Reporting behind it
- intel471.comhttps://www.intel471.com/blog/qilin-ransomware-group
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/001/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1112/
- huntress.comhttps://www.huntress.com/blog/attacking-mssql-servers
- blog.talosintelligence.comhttps://blog.talosintelligence.com/uat-7237-targets-web-hosting-infra/
- huntress.comhttps://www.huntress.com/blog/mimikatz-credential-dumping-defence-impairment
- sophos.comhttps://www.sophos.com/en-us/blog/sophos-mdr-hunt-tracks-mimic-ransomware-campaign-against-organizations-in-india
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/
- attackiq.comhttps://www.attackiq.com/2025/03/19/emulating-salt-typhoon/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003.001/
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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