Suspicious Non-Browser Access to Chromium Credential Stores

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
file_event
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-20
Updated
2026-09-20

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a process that is not a web browser touching the Local State and Login Data files inside a Chromium User Data directory. The ShadowCoil packed Python stealer read Chrome and Edge Local State (the encrypted master key) and Login Data SQLite databases and used DPAPI CryptUnprotectData to recover saved credentials. Attackers harvest browser-stored passwords to enable follow-on account takeover and ransomware operations.

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Suspicious Browser Kiosk Mode Forcing Credential Entry via process_creation
Malicious Live Ledger Stealer Execution via Ledger Lives Masquerade via process_creation
Suspicious Access to Chrome Encrypted Preference MAC Registry Values (via registry_set)
Suspicious Non-Browser Access to Chromium Credential Stores
Pivot detection · T1555.003 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.