Suspicious Use Of Active Directory Diagnostic Utility (ntdsutil.exe) (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious Use Of Active Directory Diagnostic Utility (ntdsutil.exe) (via process_creation)
id: 23317c38-f1c7-5464-8e28-bcee23dda50f
status: stable
description: This rule detects execution of ntdsutil.exe to perform different actions such as restoring snapshots...etc.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/003/
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/cc731620(v=ws.11)
    - https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/blogs/threat-intelligence/espionage-asia-governments
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-05-19
tags:
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.t1003.003
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\ntdsutil.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'ntdsutil.exe'
    selection_cli:
        - CommandLine|contains|all:
              - 'snapshot'
              - 'mount '
        - CommandLine|contains|all:
              - 'ac'
              - ' i'
              - ' ntds'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium