Windows: Time Travel Debugging Utility (tttracer.exe) Process Execution
Alerts when tttracer.exe is the parent process of a spawned process on Windows.
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2020-10-06
- Updated
- 2026-07-31
ATT&CK techniques
Defense Evasion → Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule flags process creation where the parent executable name ends with '\tttracer.exe', indicating use of the Time Travel Debugging utility. Adversaries may leverage this utility to execute additional malicious processes and perform credential and process dumping actions (for example, targeting lsass.exe). The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry, specifically the parent image path recorded for child processes.
Reporting behind it
- lolbas-project.github.iohttps://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Tttracer/
- twitter.comhttps://twitter.com/mattifestation/status/1196390321783025666
- twitter.comhttps://twitter.com/oulusoyum/status/1191329746069655553
- github.comhttps://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolbin_tttracer_mod_load.yml
Changelog
v2- v2Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v1No 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.
title: "Windows: Time Travel Debugging Utility (tttracer.exe) Process Execution"
id: 19edd581-ca02-4460-8d00-d3e49e7f13d0
related:
- id: e76c8240-d68f-4773-8880-5c6f63595aaf
type: derived
- id: 0b4ae027-2a2d-4b93-8c7e-962caaba5b2a
type: derived
status: test
description: This rule flags process creation where the parent executable name ends with '\tttracer.exe', indicating use of the Time Travel Debugging utility. Adversaries may leverage this utility to execute additional malicious processes and perform credential and process dumping actions (for example, targeting lsass.exe). The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry, specifically the parent image path recorded for child processes.
references:
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Tttracer/
- https://twitter.com/mattifestation/status/1196390321783025666
- https://twitter.com/oulusoyum/status/1191329746069655553
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolbin_tttracer_mod_load.yml
author: Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative, Huntrule Team
date: 2020-10-06
modified: 2022-10-09
tags:
- attack.credential-access
- attack.stealth
- attack.t1218
- attack.t1003.001
logsource:
product: windows
category: process_creation
detection:
selection:
ParentImage|endswith: \tttracer.exe
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate usage by software developers/testers
level: high
license: DRL-1.1