Files
Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills/skills/hunting-for-dcsync-attacks/SKILL.md
T
mukul975 cb8d79e068 Map all 754 skills to MITRE ATT&CK v19.1
- Add validated mitre_attack frontmatter to all 754 skills (286 distinct
  techniques), verified against MITRE ATT&CK v19.1 via the official
  mitreattack-python library: 0 revoked, deprecated, or invalid IDs
- Curate precise per-skill technique IDs for forensics, malware-analysis,
  threat-intel, and red-team skills (e.g. DCSync -> T1003.006,
  Kerberoasting -> T1558.003, Pass-the-Ticket -> T1550.003)
- Reconcile v19.1 tactic restructuring: Defense Evasion split into
  Stealth (TA0005) and Defense Impairment (TA0112); revoked T1562.*
  family and T1070.001/.002 remapped to active equivalents (T1685.*)
- Normalize word-split tags across 35 skills (remove filename-derived
  stopword tags, add semantic cybersecurity tags)
- Add api-reference.md for 3 skills that were missing it
- Update README ATT&CK section with accurate v19.1 tactic distribution
2026-06-01 12:13:29 +02:00

3.3 KiB

name, description, domain, subdomain, tags, version, author, license, d3fend_techniques, nist_csf, mitre_attack
name description domain subdomain tags version author license d3fend_techniques nist_csf mitre_attack
hunting-for-dcsync-attacks Detect DCSync attacks by analyzing Windows Event ID 4662 for unauthorized DS-Replication-Get-Changes requests from non-domain-controller accounts. cybersecurity threat-hunting
threat-hunting
dcsync
active-directory
credential-access
t1003.006
mimikatz
windows
dfir
1.0 mahipal Apache-2.0
Application Protocol Command Analysis
Network Isolation
Network Traffic Analysis
Client-server Payload Profiling
Platform Monitoring
DE.CM-01
DE.AE-02
DE.AE-07
ID.RA-05
T1046
T1057
T1082
T1083
T1003

Hunting for DCSync Attacks

When to Use

  • When hunting for DCSync credential theft (MITRE ATT&CK T1003.006)
  • After detecting Mimikatz or similar tools in the environment
  • During incident response involving Active Directory compromise
  • When monitoring for unauthorized domain replication requests
  • During purple team exercises testing AD attack detection

Prerequisites

  • Windows Security Event Log forwarding enabled (Event ID 4662)
  • Audit Directory Service Access enabled via Group Policy
  • Domain Computers SACL configured on Domain Object for machine account detection
  • SIEM with Windows event data ingested (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
  • Knowledge of legitimate domain controller accounts and replication partners

Workflow

  1. Enable Auditing: Ensure Audit Directory Service Access is enabled on domain controllers.
  2. Collect Events: Gather Windows Event ID 4662 with AccessMask 0x100 (Control Access).
  3. Filter Replication GUIDs: Search for DS-Replication-Get-Changes and DS-Replication-Get-Changes-All.
  4. Identify Non-DC Sources: Flag events where SubjectUserName is not a domain controller machine account.
  5. Correlate with Network: Cross-reference source IPs against known DC addresses.
  6. Validate Findings: Exclude legitimate replication tools (Azure AD Connect, SCCM).
  7. Respond: Disable compromised accounts, reset krbtgt, investigate lateral movement.

Key Concepts

Concept Description
DCSync Technique abusing AD replication protocol to extract password hashes
Event ID 4662 Directory Service Access audit event
DS-Replication-Get-Changes GUID 1131f6aa-9c07-11d1-f79f-00c04fc2dcd2
DS-Replication-Get-Changes-All GUID 1131f6ad-9c07-11d1-f79f-00c04fc2dcd2
AccessMask 0x100 Control Access right indicating extended rights verification
T1003.006 OS Credential Dumping: DCSync

Tools & Systems

Tool Purpose
Windows Event Viewer Direct event log analysis
Splunk SIEM correlation of Event 4662
Elastic Security Detection rules for DCSync patterns
Mimikatz lsadump::dcsync Attack tool used to perform DCSync
Impacket secretsdump.py Python-based DCSync implementation
BloodHound Identify accounts with replication rights

Output Format

Hunt ID: TH-DCSYNC-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Technique: T1003.006
Domain Controller: [DC hostname]
Subject Account: [Account performing replication]
Source IP: [Non-DC IP address]
GUID Accessed: [Replication GUID]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]
Recommended Action: [Disable account, reset krbtgt, investigate]