New User Account Creation Attempt Via ADSI in CommandLine

Title: New User Account Creation Attempt Via ADSI in CommandLine
Status: experimental
Description:Detects PowerShell command line arguments containing ADSI (Active Directory Service Interfaces) patterns trying to create a new user account via the WinNT or LDAP provider. This is an uncommon method to create user accounts and may indicate an attempt to evade detection by avoiding more commonly monitored commands such as "net user", "New-LocalUser" or "New-ADUser".
References:
  -https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/adsi/user-creation-with-the-adsi-ldap-provider
  -https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/adsi/adsi-winnt-provider
Author: William Gokah (idea), Raylee Hawkins, Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Date: 2026-08-13
modified:None
Tags:

• -'attack.persistence'
• -'attack.t1136.001'
• -'attack.t1136.002'

Logsource:

• category: process_creation
• product: windows

Detection:
  selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
      - '\powershell.exe'
      - '\pwsh.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
      - 'PowerShell.EXE'
      - 'pwsh.dll'
  selection_cli_adsi:
    CommandLine|contains: '[ADSI]'
  selection_cli_create_user:
    CommandLine|contains:
      -'.Create("user'
      -'.Create('user'

  selection_cli_adsi_provider:
    CommandLine|contains:
      -'WinNT://'
      -'LDAP://'

  condition:all of selection_*
Falsepositives:
  -Legitimate administrative scripts that use ADSI to provision user accounts but should be rare in most environments
Level: medium