Detecting Pass The Hash Attacks
When to Use
- When proactively hunting for indicators of detecting pass the hash attacks in the environment
- After threat intelligence indicates active campaigns using these techniques
- During incident response to scope compromise related to these techniques
- When EDR or SIEM alerts trigger on related indicators
- During periodic security assessments and purple team exercises
Prerequisites
- EDR platform with process and network telemetry (CrowdStrike, MDE, SentinelOne)
- SIEM with relevant log data ingested (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
- Sysmon deployed with comprehensive configuration
- Windows Security Event Log forwarding enabled
- Threat intelligence feeds for IOC correlation
Workflow
-
Formulate Hypothesis: Define a testable hypothesis based on threat intelligence or ATT&CK gap analysis.
-
Identify Data Sources: Determine which logs and telemetry are needed to validate or refute the hypothesis.
-
Execute Queries: Run detection queries against SIEM and EDR platforms to collect relevant events.
-
Analyze Results: Examine query results for anomalies, correlating across multiple data sources.
-
Validate Findings: Distinguish true positives from false positives through contextual analysis.
-
Correlate Activity: Link findings to broader attack chains and threat actor TTPs.
-
Document and Report: Record findings, update detection rules, and recommend response actions.
Key Concepts
| Concept |
Description |
| T1550.002 |
Pass the Hash |
| T1550.003 |
Pass the Ticket |
| T1078 |
Valid Accounts |
Tools & Systems
| Tool |
Purpose |
| CrowdStrike Falcon |
EDR telemetry and threat detection |
| Microsoft Defender for Endpoint |
Advanced hunting with KQL |
| Splunk Enterprise |
SIEM log analysis with SPL queries |
| Elastic Security |
Detection rules and investigation timeline |
| Sysmon |
Detailed Windows event monitoring |
| Velociraptor |
Endpoint artifact collection and hunting |
| Sigma Rules |
Cross-platform detection rule format |
Common Scenarios
-
Scenario 1: Mimikatz sekurlsa::pth with stolen NTLM hash
-
Scenario 2: Impacket psexec.py remote execution with hash
-
Scenario 3: CrackMapExec hash spraying across hosts
-
Scenario 4: WMI lateral movement via pass-the-hash
Output Format
Hunt ID: TH-DETECT-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Technique: T1550.002
Host: [Hostname]
User: [Account context]
Evidence: [Log entries, process trees, network data]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]
Confidence: [High/Medium/Low]
Recommended Action: [Containment, investigation, monitoring]
