Time Travel Debugging Utility Usage
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In this page
Rule name | Rule type | Log sources | MITRE ATT&CK tags | Severity |
Time Travel Debugging Utility Usage | Standard | Windows | Defense Evasion: System Binary Proxy Execution (T1218), | Critical |
About the rule
Rule Type
Standard
Rule Description
The Time Travel Debugging (TTD) utility is a diagnostic tool that allows for detailed recording and replay of process execution, enabling analysts or attackers to examine an application's behavior over time. While primarily intended for legitimate debugging by developers, threat actors may abuse this utility to capture sensitive information (e.g., credentials in memory), reverse-engineer processes, or analyze system defenses without triggering traditional security controls. This technique can support advanced reconnaissance, memory dumping, or the development of stealthy exploits.
Severity
Trouble
Rule journey
Attack chain scenario
Initial Access → Execution → Discovery → Credential Access → Defense Evasion → Collection of sensitive data for exfiltration
Impact
- Credential theft
- Defense evasion
- Data exfiltration
- Persistence and stealth
Rule Requirement
Prerequisites
Using Windows event viewer:
To enable detailed process tracking in a domain environment, log in to a domain controller using domain admin credentials and open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). Create or edit a GPO linked to the target OU and navigate to the Advanced Audit Policy Configuration section to enable success auditing for both process creation and termination. To capture command-line details, enable the Include command line in process creation events setting under Audit Process Creation. Additionally, create the Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing/Operational registry key in the specified EventLog path to support enhanced auditing.
Using Sysmon:
To enable detailed process monitoring using Sysmon, first download and install it from Microsoft Sysinternals. Run Command Prompt as an administrator and install Sysmon with a configuration file that includes process creation tracking using sysmon.exe -i [configfile.xml]. Ensure your configuration includes a <ProcessCreate> filter to capture all process creation events. Additionally, create the Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational registry key under the EventLog path if it doesn’t already exist.
Criteria
Action1: actionname = "Process started" AND PARENTPROCESSNAME endswith "\tttracer.exe" select Action1.HOSTNAME,Action1.MESSAGE,Action1.COMMANDLINE,Action1.FILE_NAME,Action1.PROCESSNAME,Action1.USERNAME,Action1.PARENTPROCESSNAME
Detection
Execution Mode
realtime
Log Sources
Windows
MITRE ATT&CK
Defense Evasion: System Binary Proxy Execution (T1218),
Credential Access: OS Credential Dumping - LSASS Memory (T1003.001)
Security Standards
Enabling this rule will help you meet the security standard's requirement listed below:
DE.CM-09: Computing hardware and software, runtime environments, and their data are monitored to find potentially adverse events.
When this rule is triggered, you're notified of the use of Time Travel Debugging (TTD) tools or related command-line activity.
Author
Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative
Future actions
Known False Positives
Legitimate developers or system administrators using Time Travel Debugging tools for debugging applications in testing environments.
Next Steps
When this rule is triggered, the following measures can be implemented:
- Identification: Review the process tree and command-line arguments associated with the TTD usage. Identify if the debugger was invoked alongside unusual binaries or in non-development environments.
- Analysis: Correlate with user behavior and machine context, examine parent-child process relationships to determine if TTD was launched as part of a suspicious tool chain or exploit attempt and check for signs of memory dumping.
- Response: Isolate the endpoint, perform memory and disk analysis, and initiate a full scan for persistence or lateral movement attempts.
- Restrict Access to Debugging Tools: Limit installation and usage of Time Travel Debugging (TTD) utilities to trusted developer environments only.
Mitigation
Mitigation ID | Mitigation Name | Mitigation description |
M1040 | On Windows 10, enable Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules to secure LSASS and prevent credential stealing. | |
M1043 | On Windows 10, Microsoft introduced Credential Guard to protect LSA secrets that can be used for credential dumping. This feature is not configured by default and has specific hardware and firmware requirements. Note that it doesn't protect against all forms of credential dumping. | |
M1028 | Consider disabling or restricting NTLM and disabling WDigest authentication to reduce credential exposure. | |
M1027 | Enforce complex and unique passwords for local administrator accounts across all systems in your network. | |
M1026 | Avoid placing user or admin domain accounts into local administrator groups across systems unless tightly controlled, as this can be equivalent to having a local admin account with the same password everywhere. Follow best practices for designing and administering an enterprise network to limit privileged account use across administrative tiers. | |
M1025 | On Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, enable Protected Process Light for LSA to enhance security. | |
M1017 | Train users and administrators to avoid using the same password for multiple accounts to limit credential overlap across systems. | |
Many native binaries may not be necessary within a given environment. | ||
M1038 | Consider using application control to prevent the execution of binaries that are susceptible to abuse and not required for a given system or network. | |
M1050 | Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) feature can help block methods that use trusted binaries to bypass application control. | |
M1037 | Utilize network appliances to filter incoming and outgoing traffic and perform protocol-based filtering. Also, configure software on endpoints to filter network traffic. | |
M1021 | Restrict the use of certain websites, block downloads and attachments, disable JavaScript, and limit browser extensions to enhance security. |
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