Unusual access to the Windows Internal Database on an ADFS server

Cortex XDR Analytics Alert Reference by data source

Product
Cortex XDR
Last date published
2024-12-03
Category
Analytics Alert Reference
Order
data source

Synopsis

Activation Period

14 Days

Training Period

30 Days

Test Period

N/A (single event)

Deduplication Period

1 Day

Required Data

  • Requires:
    • XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)

Detection Modules

Detector Tags

ATT&CK Tactic

Credential Access (TA0006)

ATT&CK Technique

Credentials from Password Stores (T1555)

Severity

Informational

Description

The Windows Internal Database (WID) was queried in an unusual way on an ADFS server.

Attacker's Goals

  • Attackers can attempt to extract and decrypt the ADFS certificate that is used to sign SAML tokens, and fabricate a new SAML token.

Investigative actions

  • See whether this was a legitimate action.
  • Follow the causality chain/user/host activities.
  • Monitor suspicious LDAP queries to the ADFS container in Active Directory.
  • Check the possibility of a compromised ADFS server.
  • Check for unusual Azure AD authentications.
  • Check for unusual logins.

Variations

Suspicious access to the Windows Internal Database on an ADFS server

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Credential Access (TA0006)

ATT&CK Technique

Credentials from Password Stores (T1555)

Severity

Low

Description

The Windows Internal Database (WID) was queried in an unusual way on an ADFS server.

Attacker's Goals

  • Attackers can attempt to extract and decrypt the ADFS certificate that is used to sign SAML tokens, and fabricate a new SAML token.

Investigative actions

  • See whether this was a legitimate action.
  • Follow the causality chain/user/host activities.
  • Monitor suspicious LDAP queries to the ADFS container in Active Directory.
  • Check the possibility of a compromised ADFS server.
  • Check for unusual Azure AD authentications.
  • Check for unusual logins.