> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/analytics-alerts/alerts-by-name/a-machine-certificate-was-issued-with-a-mismatch.md).

# A machine certificate was issued with a mismatch

### Synopsis

| Field                | Value                                                                                                                         |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Activation Period    | 14 Days                                                                                                                       |
| Training Period      | 30 Days                                                                                                                       |
| Test Period          | N/A (single event)                                                                                                            |
| Deduplication Period | 1 Day                                                                                                                         |
| Required Data        | <p>Requires one of the following data sources:<br>Windows Event Collector OR XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)</p> |
| Detection Modules    | Identity Analytics                                                                                                            |
| Detector Tags        | Active Directory Certificate Services Analytics                                                                               |
| ATT\&CK Tactic       | Privilege Escalation (TA0004)                                                                                                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique    | Valid Accounts: Domain Accounts (T1078.002)                                                                                   |
| Severity             | Medium                                                                                                                        |

### Description

A machine certificate was issued with a mismatch between the requester and the subject.

### Attacker's Goals

An attacker may attempt to exploit the Active Directory Certificate Services to escalate privileges to a domain controller machine account.

### Investigative actions

* Check who owns the certificate requester account.
* Check if the requester DNS name attribute was changed recently.
* Investigate actions done by the requester and its owner.
* Check for possible DCSync alerts.


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