Skip to content
skopnix
Detections · Rule
← IBM QRadar detectionsIBM QRadar · Behaviour (ATT&CK technique)

NTDS.dit copy via ntdsutil IFM (T1003.003)

AQLhighconfidence 85/100generated 2026-10-18

ntdsutil creating Install-From-Media output, which writes a copy of NTDS.dit and the SYSTEM hive — the domain's password hashes — to disk. Observed for: APT10, APT15, APT28, Chimera, ENERGETIC BEAR, FIN13 and 10 more.

ATT&CK
T1003.003 mitre ↗
Linked actors
APT10 · APT15 · APT28 · Chimera · ENERGETIC BEAR · FIN13 · FIN6 · Fox Kitten · HAFNIUM · LAPSUS · Medusa Group · MirrorFace · Sandworm · Scattered Spider · Volt Typhoon · WIZARD SPIDER
False positives
Matches only ntdsutil with both 'ifm' and 'create'; routine ntdsutil maintenance (metadata cleanup, snapshot listing) does not match.

AQL search

skopnix-qradar-ttp-t1003-003-cb03e1b3.aqldownload .aql ↓
SELECT DATEFORMAT(starttime, 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss') AS event_time, LOGSOURCENAME(logsourceid) AS log_source, sourceip, username, "Process Name", "Process CommandLine"
FROM events
WHERE "Process Name" ILIKE 'ntdsutil.exe' AND "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%ifm%' AND "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%create%'
LAST 7 DAYS

CRE rule (build in Offenses > Rules)

download .txt ↓
Rule name: "Skopnix: NTDS.dit copy via ntdsutil IFM (T1003.003)"
Rule type: Event
Test stack:
  - and when the event(s) were detected by one or more of [Microsoft Windows Security Event Log, Microsoft Windows Sysmon]
  - and when the event matches this AQL filter query: "Process Name" ILIKE 'ntdsutil.exe' AND "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%ifm%' AND "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%create%'
Response: dispatch new event / create offense indexed by Source IP; annotate "Skopnix T1003.003".
FP-safety: Matches only ntdsutil with both 'ifm' and 'create'; routine ntdsutil maintenance (metadata cleanup, snapshot listing) does not match.

How to deploy on IBM QRadar

  1. 1.Create the reference set from its spec (Reference Data API, or Admin > Reference Set Management) and schedule the skopnix feed load.
  2. 2.Paste the AQL into Log Activity > Advanced Search to hunt the last seven days.
  3. 3.For alerting, build the CRE rule from the test stack shown and exclude your known-good building block.

Check · Custom properties ("URL Host", "URL", "File Hash", "Process CommandLine") come from your DSMs and content extensions; rename them if yours differ.

References