Detect Domain Trust Discovery in Google Chronicle
Adversaries may attempt to gather information on domain trust relationships that may be used to identify lateral movement opportunities in Windows multi-domain/forest environments. Domain trusts provide a mechanism for a domain to allow access to resources based on the authentication procedures of another domain. Adversaries use utilities like nltest.exe, AdFind, PowerShell .NET methods (Get-ADTrust, GetAllTrustRelationships), LDAP queries, and tools like Rubeus to enumerate bidirectional, one-way, forest, and external trusts. This information facilitates SID-History Injection, Pass the Ticket, Kerberoasting, and lateral movement across trust boundaries. Widely observed in ransomware pre-encryption reconnaissance by groups including BlackByte, Akira, QakBot, IcedID, and Chimera.
MITRE ATT&CK
- Tactic
- Discovery
- Technique
- T1482 Domain Trust Discovery
- Canonical reference
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1482/
YARA-L Detection Query
rule t1482_domain_trust_discovery {
meta:
author = "Argus Detection Engineering"
description = "Detects Domain Trust Discovery (T1482) via nltest.exe, AdFind, and PowerShell trust enumeration commands."
mitre_attack_tactic = "Discovery"
mitre_attack_technique = "T1482"
severity = "HIGH"
priority = "HIGH"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1482/"
events:
$e.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_LAUNCH"
$e.principal.hostname = $hostname
$e.principal.user.userid = $user
$e.target.process.command_line = $cmdline
$e.target.process.file.full_path = $procpath
(
// nltest.exe trust enumeration
(
re.regex($procpath, `(?i)nltest\.exe$`) and
(
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)/domain_trusts`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)/all_trusts`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)/dclist:`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)/trusted_domains`)
)
)
or
// AdFind trust enumeration
(
re.regex($procpath, `(?i)adfind(64)?\.exe$`) and
(
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)trustdmp`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)trustedDomain`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)objectclass=trusteddomain`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)objectcategory=trusteddomain`)
)
)
or
// PowerShell .NET and AD module trust enumeration
(
re.regex($procpath, `(?i)(powershell|pwsh)\.exe$`) and
(
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)Get-ADTrust`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)GetAllTrustRelationships`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)DSEnumerateDomainTrusts`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)GetCurrentDomainTrustRelationships`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)System\.DirectoryServices\.ActiveDirectory\.Domain`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)netapi32`) or
re.regex($cmdline, `(?i)DsEnumerateDomainTrusts`)
)
)
)
condition:
$e
}Google Chronicle YARA-L 2.0 rule that detects Domain Trust Discovery (T1482) by matching PROCESS_LAUNCH UDM events where the process binary is nltest.exe, AdFind, or PowerShell and the command line contains arguments indicative of Active Directory trust enumeration. Covers all major discovery methods including native binaries, third-party tools, and .NET/AD module calls.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Network engineers or domain admins running nltest /domain_trusts from privileged workstations during routine AD troubleshooting sessions
- Automated baseline tooling used during quarterly Active Directory security assessments that catalogs trust relationships
- ITSM or CMDB agents using PowerShell AD module to synchronize trust topology information into service management databases
Other platforms for T1482
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 5 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1nltest Domain Trust Enumeration
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=C:\Windows\System32\nltest.exe, CommandLine containing '/domain_trusts /all_trusts'. Security Event ID 4688 (if command line auditing enabled). Network traffic: LDAP queries (port 389) to the domain controller to resolve trust objects.
- Test 2nltest DC List Enumeration by Domain
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=nltest.exe, CommandLine containing '/dclist:'. DNS resolution queries for _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.<domain> and Kerberos (port 88) or LDAP (port 389) outbound connections to domain controllers.
- Test 3PowerShell Get-ADTrust Domain Trust Enumeration
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create for powershell.exe with CommandLine containing 'Get-ADTrust'. PowerShell ScriptBlock Log Event ID 4104 with the full command. LDAP traffic (port 389/636) to a domain controller querying the trustedDomain object class. Security Event ID 4662 on the DC for directory object access.
- Test 4AdFind Trust Dump via LDAP
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image matching adfind.exe, CommandLine containing '(objectcategory=trusteddomain)'. Sysmon Event ID 3: LDAP network connection (port 389) from adfind.exe to the domain controller IP. Security Event ID 4662 on the DC showing directory object access for the trustedDomain class. File creation of adfind.exe triggers Sysmon Event ID 11 if the binary was just dropped.
- Test 5PowerShell .NET GetAllTrustRelationships via DirectoryServices
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create for powershell.exe with CommandLine containing 'GetAllTrustRelationships' and 'System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain'. PowerShell ScriptBlock Log Event ID 4104. Outbound LDAP connection (port 389) to a domain controller to resolve trust objects.
References (10)
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1482/
- https://posts.specterops.io/a-guide-to-attacking-domain-trusts-971e52cb2944
- https://adsecurity.org/?p=1588
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2003/cc759554(v=ws.10)
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.directoryservices.activedirectory.domain.getalltrustrelationships
- https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2017/05/04/windows-defender-atp-thwarts-operation-wilysupply-software-supply-chain-cyberattack/
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1482/T1482.md
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_nltest_recon.yml
- https://thedfirreport.com/2020/10/08/ryuks-return/
- https://www.arcticicwolf.com/resource-library/akira-ransomware-actor-ttps
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