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Windows PowerShell Remote Thread Into lsass.exe Suggesting Credential Dumping

Alerts when PowerShell creates a remote thread into lsass.exe, indicating possible credential dumping on Windows.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2
Product
windows
Category
create_remote_thread
Author
oscd.community, Natalia Shornikova (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-10-06
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 flags Windows systems where a PowerShell process (powershell.exe or pwsh.exe) creates a remote thread targeting lsass.exe. Creating remote threads into lsass.exe is commonly associated with credential access techniques aimed at extracting authentication material. The detection relies on telemetry for remote thread creation events and the process image paths for both the source (PowerShell) and target (lsass.exe).

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.001 — drag to rearrange
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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 PowerShell Remote Thread Into lsass.exe Suggesting Credential 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.