Suspicious Service Principal Name Discovery via setspn Query

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1069.002Domain Groups
- T1087.002Domain Account
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects setspn being used with the query flag to enumerate service principal names, a Kerberoasting preparation step observed during Velociraptor misuse where the actor queried service accounts such as backup SPNs. Enumerating SPNs identifies service accounts whose tickets can be extracted and cracked offline. Command line SPN queries are uncommon outside administrative auditing.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1069.002 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Active Directory Enumeration via SharpHound or BloodHound (via process_creation)

Suspicious Group Discovery - Command (via process_creation)

SharpHound Host Enumeration Over Kerberos (via security)

Suspicious Active Directory Enumeration via ADWS PowerShell Cmdlets via ps_script

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

Windows PowerShell module commandlet names matching known exploitation and post-exploitation tooling

Windows Process Creation: Suspicious PowerShell Commandlets Used by Known Exploitation Tools

Suspicious Service Principal Name Discovery via setspn Query

Pivot detection · T1069.002 · 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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