Suspicious SAM Registry Hive Dump to Windows Temp by BianLian

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 saving of the SAM registry hive into the Windows Temp directory, matching the credential access technique used by the BianLian ransomware group per Unit 42. Extracting the SAM hive lets the actor recover local account password hashes offline which supports lateral movement across the environment.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.002 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Registry Hive Dump of SAM and SYSTEM via Reg Save (via process_creation)

Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Hive Dump via reg save (via process_creation)

Malicious Mimikatz Credential Access Module Invocation

Malicious SYSTEM Registry Hive Dump via reg.exe by Sandworm

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

Malicious SAM and SYSTEM Hive Dump via reg save

Suspicious SAM Registry Hive Dump to Windows Temp by BianLian

Pivot detection · T1003.002 · 9 related

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