Cached credentials discovery with cmdkey

Synopsis

Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	Requires: XDR Agent
Detection Modules
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006) Discovery (TA0007)
ATT&CK Technique	OS Credential Dumping (T1003) Account Discovery (T1087)
Severity	Low

Description

Cmdkey is a built-in Windows tool that can cache domain user credentials for use on specific target machines, Attackers can access cached user credentials using cmdkey /list.

Attacker's Goals

Access cached user credentials.

Investigative actions

Check the initiator process for additional suspicious activity.
Check if the host is a shared host that multiple users' credentials can be extracted from.

Variations

The process cmdkey runs with modified name and extract cached credentials

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

High

Description

Cmdkey is a built-in Windows tool that can cache domain user credentials for use on specific target machines, Attackers can access cached user credentials using cmdkey /list.

Attacker's Goals

Access cached user credentials.

Investigative actions

Check the initiator process for additional suspicious activity.
Check if the host is a shared host that multiple users' credentials can be extracted from.

Transfer cached credentials with cmdkey to other standard output

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Medium

Description

Cmdkey is a built-in Windows tool that can cache domain user credentials for use on specific target machines, Attackers can access cached user credentials using cmdkey /list.

Attacker's Goals

Access cached user credentials.

Investigative actions

Check the initiator process for additional suspicious activity.
Check if the host is a shared host that multiple users' credentials can be extracted from.