Windows: File Creation of NTDS.DIT (Active Directory Database)

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
- T1003.003NTDS
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags file creation events where the target filename ends with "ntds.dit", indicating creation of the Active Directory database file. Attackers may create or manipulate NTDS.DIT to support credential access and directory database extraction. It relies on Windows file event telemetry capturing the target filename associated with the creation action.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.003 — drag to rearrange

Malicious NTDS.dit Extraction via Ntdsutil (via process_creation)

Malicious NTDS Extraction via ntdsutil IFM (via process_creation)

Malicious NTDS Database Staging to Audit Directory (via file_event)

IFM Creation Detected from Commandline - Installation from Media (via process_creation)

Malicious Credential Hive Copy from Volume Shadow Copy

Malicious File Copy via Esentutl Volume Shadow Access (via process_creation)

Malicious NTDS Extraction via NetExec (via process_creation)

Malicious Active Directory Database Dump via ntdsutil IFM (via process_creation)

Malicious NTDS Extraction via Ntdsutil IFM Media Creation

Windows: File Creation of NTDS.DIT (Active Directory Database)

Pivot detection · T1003.003 · 9 related

Changelog

v2

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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

windows-file-events-ntds-dit-created-0b8baa3f

title: "Windows: File Creation of NTDS.DIT (Active Directory Database)"
id: 80190794-3aac-41de-8da4-89ea84d12bd5
status: test
description: This rule flags file creation events where the target filename ends with "ntds.dit", indicating creation of the Active Directory database file. Attackers may create or manipulate NTDS.DIT to support credential access and directory database extraction. It relies on Windows file event telemetry capturing the target filename associated with the creation action.
references:
  - Internal Research
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_ntds_dit_creation.yml
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2023-05-05
tags:
  - attack.credential-access
  - attack.t1003.003
logsource:
  product: windows
  category: file_event
detection:
  selection:
    TargetFilename|endswith: ntds.dit
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: low
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 0b8baa3f-575c-46ee-8715-d6f28cc7d33c
    type: derived

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