Uncommon Domain Trust Discovery via Nltest (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1018Remote System Discovery
- T1482Domain Trust Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects nltest.exe being used to enumerate domain controllers and domain trust relationships, a discovery step that adversaries and loaders such as those profiled in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report run to understand the Active Directory environment before moving laterally. Because interactive nltest trust enumeration is uncommon on typical endpoints, it is a useful early indicator of hands-on-keyboard reconnaissance. Detecting these queries surfaces the adversary orienting inside the domain.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1018 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Discovery Command Spawned by Java Process

Suspicious Active Directory Subnet Enumeration via ADFind Subnets Query (via process_creation)

Suspicious Remote Connection to ADWS Port 9389 via security

Suspicious AdFind Active Directory Reconnaissance Tool Execution (via process_creation)

Uncommon Domain Trust Discovery via Nltest (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1018 · 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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