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Detections · Rule
← IBM QRadar detectionsIBM QRadar · Behaviour (ATT&CK technique)

AdFind domain trust or controller enumeration (T1482)

AQLmediumconfidence 70/100generated 2026-10-18

AdFind.exe run with trustdmp / dclist / domainlist — the reconnaissance step that precedes lateral movement in many ransomware intrusions. Observed for: APT35, blackbyte, Chimera, Earth Lusca, FIN8, LOTUS PANDA and 4 more.

ATT&CK
T1482 mitre ↗
Linked actors
APT35 · blackbyte · Chimera · Earth Lusca · FIN8 · LOTUS PANDA · MirrorFace · Storm-0501 · Storm-1567 · UNC4393
False positives
Requires adfind plus a trust / DC enumeration switch; generic LDAP queries with other tools do not match.

AQL search

skopnix-qradar-ttp-t1482-484652db.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 'adfind.exe' AND ("Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%trustdmp%' OR "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%dclist%' OR "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%domainlist%')
LAST 7 DAYS

CRE rule (build in Offenses > Rules)

download .txt ↓
Rule name: "Skopnix: AdFind domain trust or controller enumeration (T1482)"
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 'adfind.exe' AND ("Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%trustdmp%' OR "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%dclist%' OR "Process CommandLine" ILIKE '%domainlist%')
Response: dispatch new event / create offense indexed by Source IP; annotate "Skopnix T1482".
FP-safety: Requires adfind plus a trust / DC enumeration switch; generic LDAP queries with other tools do 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