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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 WDigest Credential Caching Enabled via Registry (via registry_set)
Malicious Credential Dumping via Mimikatz Sekurlsa Command
Malicious Mimikatz Sekurlsa Logonpasswords Credential Dump
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump via ProcDump (via process_creation)
Malicious LSASS Memory Dump via comsvcs.dll by Salt Typhoon
Malicious LSASS Dump via Process Access (via process_access)
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump with LSASSY - Process (via process_creation)
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump with LSASSY - Admin Share (via security)
Malicious Task Manager Used for LSASS Dump - Kernel (via security)
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.