PKINIT Followed by Same-Principal U2U Service Ticket
Identifies a successful PKINIT ticket-granting ticket request followed within five seconds on the same domain controller and source address by a successful user-to-user service-ticket request whose service SID…
Description
Identifies a successful PKINIT ticket-granting ticket request followed within five seconds on the same domain controller and source address by a successful user-to-user service-ticket request whose service SID matches the PKINIT principal SID. This sequence is consistent with the KDC-visible ticket requests used in an UnPAC-the-Hash attack, before client-side PAC credential decryption and NT hash recovery. The certificate used for PKINIT may have been obtained through CertiGhost or another certificate-abuse path.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
Sunturai publishes a detection's own text where the licence it arrived under has been reviewed and permits it, and Elastic License 2.0 has not. The query as its source wrote it, its canonical form and the hash that pins this revision are in the workspace record.
Detection requirements
- Platform
- LinuxmacOSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| dirkjanm.io/ntlm-relaying-to-ad-certificate-services/#obtaining-the-nt-hash-of-the-impersonated-computer-account | Only this detection cites it |
| gist.github.com/H0j3n/a5ef2609b5f2944ac2390a191a534c26 | 2 |
| github.com/FalconForceTeam/FalconFriday/blob/c662a6a0dc5d973beb3abb673d4e8cdc193bf469/0xFF-0299-UnPAC_the_hash-Win.md | Only this detection cites it |
| github.com/dirkjanm/PKINITtools/blob/0f0cfa542b0348609ad494713e84744234b2d3b0/getnthash.py | Only this detection cites it |
| specterops.io/blog/2026/06/09/user-to-user-authentication-down-the-rabbit-hole-part-1/ | Only this detection cites it |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 04443c0e-9f23-4b61-996b-d8d6b0263bd2
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Active DirectoryData Source: Windows Security Event LogsDomain: EndpointDomain: IdentityNoise: UnknownOS: WindowsPerformance: NormalPlatform: WindowsResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Event Correlation (EQL)Tactic: Credential AccessUse Case: Active Directory MonitoringUse Case: Threat Detection
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3