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Windows LSASS Remote Thread Creation Indicative of Password Dumping

Flags Windows remote thread creation targeting lsass.exe, a common pattern in password dumping activity.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2
Product
windows
Category
create_remote_thread
Author
Thomas Patzke (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2017-02-19
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies password-dumper activity by flagging remote thread creation events targeting lsass.exe (TargetImage ending in \lsass.exe). Remote thread creation against LSASS can be used to access or extract credentials from the process. It relies on telemetry for remote thread creation events (EventID 8) that record the target process and the injecting process (Process field).

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.001 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Mimikatz Credential Dumping via Command Line Arguments
Malicious Credential Extraction via Volatility Memory Analysis (via process_creation)
Suspicious Physical Memory Acquisition via WinPmem (via process_creation)
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump via Rundll32 Comsvcs MiniDump via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Suspicious LSASS Credential Access via PowerShell (via process_creation)
Suspicious LSASS Memory Dump via Task Manager After Ivanti Exploitation
Suspicious ProcDump LSASS Memory Dump via process_creation
Malicious Mimikatz Credential Dump Log File Creation (via file_event)
Malicious WDigest UseLogonCredential Enabled for Cleartext Credential Theft (via registry_set)
Windows LSASS Remote Thread Creation Indicative of Password Dumping
Pivot detection · T1003.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
  1. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. 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.