Windows PowerShell: Suspicious Get-ADDBAccount access to ntds.dit via BootKey and DatabasePath

Alerts on PowerShell invocations of Get-ADDBAccount that reference BootKey and DatabasePath for ntds.dit credential access.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Category: ps_module
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2022-03-16
Updated: 2026-07-31

Analysis Detection

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 PowerShell module activity invoking Get-ADDBAccount with parameters indicating it will use BootKey and DatabasePath to read from an ntds.dit database. Attackers may use this to extract credential material without deploying common credential-dumping tools. It relies on PowerShell module telemetry capturing the script payload content, specifically the presence of Get-ADDBAccount along with BootKey and DatabasePath strings.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.003 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Active Directory Snapshot Creation via ntdsutil

Malicious NTDS Credential Dump via Ntdsutil IFM Snapshot (via process_creation)

Malicious NTDS Database Dump via ntdsutil

Malicious NTDS Extraction from Volume Shadow Copy by RA World

Malicious NTDS Extraction via ntdsutil IFM

Malicious NTDS.dit Access via Shadow Copy GLOBALROOT Path

Suspicious Shadow Copy Creation via WMIC (via process_creation)

Malicious NTDS Extraction via Ntdsutil IFM

Malicious NTDS.dit Credential Extraction via ntdsutil

Windows PowerShell: Suspicious Get-ADDBAccount access to ntds.dit via BootKey and DatabasePath

Pivot detection · T1003.003 · 9 related

Changelog

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-powershell-suspicious-get-addbaccount-reads-ntds-dit-via-bootkey-b140afd9

title: "Windows PowerShell: Suspicious Get-ADDBAccount access to ntds.dit via BootKey and DatabasePath"
id: fd1ffc4f-7382-4fe2-85b8-fd7f9b25e0ec
status: test
description: This rule flags PowerShell module activity invoking Get-ADDBAccount with parameters indicating it will use BootKey and DatabasePath to read from an ntds.dit database. Attackers may use this to extract credential material without deploying common credential-dumping tools. It relies on PowerShell module telemetry capturing the script payload content, specifically the presence of Get-ADDBAccount along with BootKey and DatabasePath strings.
references:
  - https://www.n00py.io/2022/03/manipulating-user-passwords-without-mimikatz/
  - https://github.com/MichaelGrafnetter/DSInternals/blob/7ba59c12ee9a1cb430d7dc186a3366842dd612c8/Documentation/PowerShell/Get-ADDBAccount.md
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/powershell/powershell_module/posh_pm_get_addbaccount.yml
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2022-03-16
tags:
  - attack.credential-access
  - attack.t1003.003
logsource:
  product: windows
  category: ps_module
  definition: 0ad03ef1-f21b-4a79-8ce8-e6900c54b65b
detection:
  selection:
    Payload|contains|all:
      - Get-ADDBAccount
      - "BootKey "
      - "DatabasePath "
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: b140afd9-474b-4072-958e-2ebb435abd68
    type: derived

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