Windows Security: Network Access to protected_storage (IPC)

Flags Windows network share access to protected_storage through IPC from Security event 5145.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Service: security
Author: Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1021.002SMB/Windows Admin Shares
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows Security event 5145 where a client accesses the protected_storage resource via an IPC share path. Attackers may use protected storage access to facilitate credential and key material theft or lateral movement by reaching sensitive backups on domain systems. The detection relies on event-based SMB/Share access telemetry, including ShareName content containing IPC and the RelativeTargetName matching protected_storage.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1021.002 — drag to rearrange

Malicious NetExec SMB Enumeration Execution (via process_creation)

Malicious WMIexec Style Command Output Redirection to Local Admin Share

Malicious Cobalt Strike Default Named Pipe Activity

Suspicious PsExec Service Launching Encoded PowerShell Payload

Suspicious Impacket Style Command Execution with ADMIN Share Output Redirect

Suspicious Active Directory Reconnaissance via In-Memory Offensive PowerShell (via ps_script)

Suspicious NetExec Post-Exploitation Tool Execution via nxc (via process_creation)

Suspicious SMB Admin Share Mapping for Lateral Tool Transfer (via process_creation)

Suspicious Impacket Remote Execution Tool Usage via process_creation

Windows Security: Network Access to protected_storage (IPC)

Pivot detection · T1021.002 · 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-security-network-access-to-protected-storage-via-ipc-share-45545954

title: "Windows Security: Network Access to protected_storage (IPC)"
id: 243ce2b8-96f6-4025-b0eb-6b84cd41641d
status: test
description: This rule flags Windows Security event 5145 where a client accesses the protected_storage resource via an IPC share path. Attackers may use protected storage access to facilitate credential and key material theft or lateral movement by reaching sensitive backups on domain systems. The detection relies on event-based SMB/Share access telemetry, including ShareName content containing IPC and the RelativeTargetName matching protected_storage.
references:
  - https://threathunterplaybook.com/hunts/windows/190620-DomainDPAPIBackupKeyExtraction/notebook.html
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/builtin/security/win_security_protected_storage_service_access.yml
author: Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g, Huntrule Team
date: 2019-08-10
modified: 2021-11-27
tags:
  - attack.lateral-movement
  - attack.t1021.002
logsource:
  product: windows
  service: security
detection:
  selection:
    EventID: 5145
    ShareName|contains: IPC
    RelativeTargetName: protected_storage
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 45545954-4016-43c6-855e-eae8f1c369dc
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

SplunkSPL