Suspicious Domain Trust Enumeration via Nltest

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1482Domain Trust Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects nltest querying domain trusts or domain controllers, an Active Directory reconnaissance step performed by the Malichus malware after exploiting Cleo file transfer software. Enumerating trusts and controllers helps attackers plan lateral movement across the domain. This discovery activity commonly follows initial access on an exposed server.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1482 — drag to rearrange

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Windows File Events: ADExplorer .dat Snapshot Written by ADExp.exe or ADExplorer.exe

Windows: Sysinternals ADExplorer invoked with snapshot flag to create AD database snapshot

Windows Process Creation: Sysinternals ADExplorer Snapshot Exports Active Directory Database

Suspicious Domain Trust Enumeration via Nltest

Pivot detection · T1482 · 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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