Windows Time Travel Debugging DLL Loads (ttdrecord/ttdwriter/ttdloader)
Flags Windows image loads of Time Travel Debugging Utility DLLs (tdrecord/tdwriter/tdloader), often abused for stealthy credential dumping.
- Product
- windows
- Category
- image_load
- Author
- Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2020-10-06
- Updated
- 2026-07-31
ATT&CK techniques
Defense Evasion → Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule identifies Windows image load events where tttracer-related Time Travel Debugging DLLs are loaded. Such activity can indicate debugging or data-capture tooling that may be abused to support credential-access and process-dumping attempts, including targeting sensitive processes. Detection relies on telemetry that records loaded image paths for Windows processes and matches specific DLL filenames: ttdrecord.dll, ttdwriter.dll, and ttdloader.dll.
Reporting behind it
- lolbas-project.github.iohttps://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Tttracer/
- twitter.comhttps://twitter.com/mattifestation/status/1196390321783025666
- twitter.comhttps://twitter.com/oulusoyum/status/1191329746069655553
- github.comhttps://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/image_load/image_load_dll_tttracer_module_load.yml
Changelog
v2- v2Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v1No 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.
title: Windows Time Travel Debugging DLL Loads (ttdrecord/ttdwriter/ttdloader)
id: eb6c6cdb-ca98-49be-afe9-983d5493b141
status: test
description: "This rule identifies Windows image load events where tttracer-related Time Travel Debugging DLLs are loaded. Such activity can indicate debugging or data-capture tooling that may be abused to support credential-access and process-dumping attempts, including targeting sensitive processes. Detection relies on telemetry that records loaded image paths for Windows processes and matches specific DLL filenames: ttdrecord.dll, ttdwriter.dll, and ttdloader.dll."
references:
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Tttracer/
- https://twitter.com/mattifestation/status/1196390321783025666
- https://twitter.com/oulusoyum/status/1191329746069655553
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/image_load/image_load_dll_tttracer_module_load.yml
author: Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative, Huntrule Team
date: 2020-10-06
modified: 2022-12-02
tags:
- attack.credential-access
- attack.stealth
- attack.t1218
- attack.t1003.001
logsource:
product: windows
category: image_load
detection:
selection:
ImageLoaded|endswith:
- \ttdrecord.dll
- \ttdwriter.dll
- \ttdloader.dll
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate usage by software developers/testers
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
- id: e76c8240-d68f-4773-8880-5c6f63595aaf
type: derived