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name: detecting-credential-dumping-with-edr description: Detect OS credential dumping techniques including LSASS access, SAM extraction, and DCSync using EDR telemetry and Sysmon logs. domain: cybersecurity subdomain: threat-hunting tags: [threat-hunting, mitre-attack, credential-dumping, edr, lsass, t1003, proactive-detection] version: "1.0" author: mahipal license: Apache-2.0

Detecting Credential Dumping with EDR

When to Use

• When hunting for post-exploitation credential theft in compromised environments
• After detecting suspicious LSASS process access in EDR alerts
• When investigating potential Active Directory compromise
• During incident response to determine scope of credential exposure
• When proactively hunting for T1003 sub-techniques across endpoints

Prerequisites

• EDR platform with process access monitoring (CrowdStrike, MDE, SentinelOne)
• Sysmon deployed with Event ID 10 (Process Access) configured for LSASS
• Windows Security Event Log 4688 with command-line auditing enabled
• Active Directory event forwarding for DCSync detection (Event ID 4662)
• Windows Security Event Log 4656/4663 for SAM registry access

Workflow

1. Identify Credential Dumping Vectors: Map the T1003 sub-techniques relevant to your environment (LSASS Memory, SAM, NTDS, DCSync, /etc/passwd, Cached Credentials).
2. Query LSASS Access Events: Search for Sysmon Event ID 10 where TargetImage is lsass.exe with suspicious GrantedAccess masks (0x1010, 0x1038, 0x1FFFFF).
3. Analyze Process Context: Examine the source process accessing LSASS - legitimate security tools vs. unknown or suspicious binaries.
4. Hunt for SAM/NTDS Access: Query for reg.exe save operations against SAM/SECURITY/SYSTEM hives and ntdsutil/vssadmin shadow copy access.
5. Detect DCSync Activity: Monitor for DS-Replication-Get-Changes requests from non-domain-controller sources (Event ID 4662).
6. Correlate with Network Activity: Cross-reference credential dumping with subsequent lateral movement or authentication anomalies.
7. Assess Impact and Report: Determine which credentials were potentially exposed and recommend password resets and containment.

Key Concepts

Concept	Description
T1003	OS Credential Dumping - parent technique
T1003.001	LSASS Memory - dumping credentials from LSASS process
T1003.002	Security Account Manager (SAM) - extracting local password hashes
T1003.003	NTDS - extracting AD database from Domain Controllers
T1003.004	LSA Secrets - accessing stored service credentials
T1003.005	Cached Domain Credentials (DCC2)
T1003.006	DCSync - replicating AD credentials via DRSUAPI
LSASS	Local Security Authority Subsystem Service
GrantedAccess	Bitmask indicating the access rights requested for a process
Minidump	Memory dump technique used by tools like comsvcs.dll

Tools & Systems

Tool	Purpose
CrowdStrike Falcon	LSASS access detection and process tree analysis
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	Advanced hunting for credential access events
Sysmon	Process access monitoring (Event ID 10)
Velociraptor	Endpoint artifact collection for LSASS analysis
Elastic Security	Correlation of credential dumping indicators
Splunk	SPL queries for credential access event analysis
Volatility	Memory forensics for LSASS credential extraction

Common Scenarios

1. Mimikatz LSASS Dump: Attacker runs sekurlsa::logonpasswords causing direct LSASS memory read with GrantedAccess 0x1010.
2. Comsvcs.dll MiniDump: Process uses rundll32.exe comsvcs.dll MiniDump [LSASS PID] to create LSASS memory dump file.
3. ProcDump LSASS: Attacker uses Microsoft-signed procdump.exe with -ma lsass.exe to dump LSASS memory.
4. SAM Registry Export: Adversary runs reg save HKLM\SAM sam.bak to extract local password hashes.
5. DCSync Replication: Compromised account with Replicating Directory Changes permissions performs DCSync from a workstation.
6. NTDS Shadow Copy: Attacker uses vssadmin create shadow /for=C: then copies ntds.dit from the shadow copy.

Output Format

Hunt ID: TH-CRED-DUMP-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Technique: T1003.[Sub-technique]
Source Process: [Process accessing LSASS/SAM/NTDS]
Target: [lsass.exe / SAM / NTDS.dit / DC Replication]
Host: [Hostname]
User: [Account context]
GrantedAccess: [Access mask if applicable]
Timestamp: [UTC]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]
Evidence: [Log entries, process tree, network activity]
Recommended Action: [Password reset scope, containment steps]