> 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/suspicious-certutil-ad-cs-contact.md).
# Suspicious Certutil AD CS contact
### 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 | Active Directory Certificate Services Analytics |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | System Service Discovery (T1007), Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates (T1649) |
| Severity | Low |
### Description
A suspicious occurrence of Certutil attempted to contact the AD CS Request Interface.
### Attacker's Goals
* An attacker might look for AD CS servers, certificate templates or request certificates.
* With the wrong setting or loose vulnerable templates or enabled enrollment, the attacker will be able to authenticate as users on the network.
### Investigative actions
* Look at further action done by the user.
* Investigate whether other non-standard operations were done regarding the AD CS.
### Variations
Suspicious Certutil AD CS Admin Interface contact
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | System Service Discovery (T1007), Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates (T1649) |
| Severity | Medium |
**Description**
A suspicious occurrence of Certutil attempted to contact the AD CS Admin Interface.
**Attacker's Goals**
* An attacker might look for AD CS servers, certificate templates or request certificates.
* With the wrong setting or loose vulnerable templates or enabled enrollment, the attacker will be able to authenticate as users on the network.
**Investigative actions**
* Look at further action done by the user.
* Investigate whether other non-standard operations were done regarding the AD CS.
---
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