wdigest-caching
Description
This query was originally published in the threat analytics report, WDigest credential harvesting. WDigest is a legacy authentication protocol dating from Windows XP. While still used on some corporate networks, this protocol can be manipulated by attackers to dump system credentials. The Microsoft Security Response Center published an overview of KB2871997, which addresses WDigest use on older platforms. More recent versions of Windows can be protected with a holistic security approach that follows the principle of least privilege. The following query returns any attempts to turn WDigest credential caching on through the registry. References: https://docs.microsoft.com/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2003/cc778868(v=ws.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN https://msrc-blog.microsoft.com/2014/06/05/an-overview-of-kb2871997/ https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB2871997 https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/security-best-practices/implementing-least-privilege-administrative-models
Query · kql
union DeviceRegistryEvents, DeviceProcessEvents // Find attempts to turn on WDigest credential caching | where RegistryKey contains "wdigest" and RegistryValueName == "UseLogonCredential" and RegistryValueData == "1" or // Find processes created with commandlines that attempt to turn on WDigest caching ProcessCommandLine has "WDigest" and ProcessCommandLine has "UseLogonCredential" and ProcessCommandLine has "dword" and ProcessCommandLine has "1" | project Timestamp, DeviceName, PreviousRegistryValueData, RegistryKey, RegistryValueName, RegistryValueData, FileName, ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessAccountName, InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessParentFileName