Suspicious certificate template modification

Cortex XDR Analytics Alert Reference by Alert name

Product

Cortex XDR

Last date published

2025-06-24

Synopsis

Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Hour
Required Data	Requires one of the following data sources: Windows Event Collector OR XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)
Detection Modules	Identity Analytics
Detector Tags	Active Directory Certificate Services Analytics
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK Technique	Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates (T1649)
Severity	Informational

Description

A certificate template was updated with a possible misconfiguration. This may indicate the exploitation of misconfigured certificate template access control (ESC4).

Attacker's Goals

An attacker is attempting to exploit AD CS misconfigurations to obtain certificates that can be used for credential theft and privilege escalation.

Investigative actions

Review the AD CS configuration for vulnerable templates and EKU settings.
Review AD CS logs to identify any unauthorized certificate issuances, modifications, or template changes.

Variations

Certificate template was updated to be vulnerable to AD CS ESC attack

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK Technique	Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates (T1649)
Severity	Medium

Description

A certificate template was updated, making it vulnerable to an AD CS ESC attack. This may indicate the potential abuse of AD CS ESC4.

Attacker's Goals

An attacker is attempting to exploit AD CS misconfigurations to obtain certificates that can be used for credential theft and privilege escalation.

Investigative actions

Review the AD CS configuration for vulnerable templates and EKU settings.
Review AD CS logs to identify any unauthorized certificate issuances, modifications, or template changes.

Certificate template was updated with a misconfiguration configuration

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK Technique	Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates (T1649)
Severity	Low

Description

A certificate template was updated with new misconfiguration. This may indicate a potential AD CS ESC4 attack.

Attacker's Goals

An attacker is attempting to exploit AD CS misconfigurations to obtain certificates that can be used for credential theft and privilege escalation.

Investigative actions

Review the AD CS configuration for vulnerable templates and EKU settings.
Review AD CS logs to identify any unauthorized certificate issuances, modifications, or template changes.