Cached credentials discovery with cmdkey

Synopsis

Field	Value
Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	XDR Agent
Detector Tags	LOLBIN Execution Analytics
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006), Discovery (TA0007)
ATT&CK Technique	OS Credential Dumping (T1003), Account Discovery (T1087)
Severity	Low

Description

Cmdkey is a built-in Windows tool that can cache domain user credentials for use on specific target machines, Attackers can access cached user credentials using cmdkey /list.

Attacker's Goals

Access cached user credentials.

Investigative actions

• Check the initiator process for additional suspicious activity.
• Check if the host is a shared host that multiple users' credentials can be extracted from.

Variations

The process cmdkey runs with modified name and extract cached credentials

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006), Discovery (TA0007)
ATT&CK Technique	OS Credential Dumping (T1003), Account Discovery (T1087)
Severity	High

Description

Cmdkey is a built-in Windows tool that can cache domain user credentials for use on specific target machines, Attackers can access cached user credentials using cmdkey /list.

Attacker's Goals

Access cached user credentials.

Investigative actions

• Check the initiator process for additional suspicious activity.
• Check if the host is a shared host that multiple users' credentials can be extracted from.

Transfer cached credentials with cmdkey to other standard output

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006), Discovery (TA0007)
ATT&CK Technique	OS Credential Dumping (T1003), Account Discovery (T1087)
Severity	Medium

Description

Cmdkey is a built-in Windows tool that can cache domain user credentials for use on specific target machines, Attackers can access cached user credentials using cmdkey /list.

Attacker's Goals

Access cached user credentials.

Investigative actions

• Check the initiator process for additional suspicious activity.
• Check if the host is a shared host that multiple users' credentials can be extracted from.