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hunting-for-dcom-lateral-movement

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Hunt for DCOM-based lateral movement (MITRE ATT&CK T1021.003) by detecting abuse of MMC20.Application, ShellBrowserWindow, and ShellWindows COM objects via Sysmon Event ID 1/3 correlation, WMI event analysis, and RPC endpoint mapper traffic on port 135. Use when investigating suspicious mmc.exe/dllhost.exe child processes, building T1021.003 detections, or auditing DCOM exposure during purple-team exercises.

skills/hunting-for-dcom-lateral-movement/SKILL.md

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Network or broad shell
Last checked
Nov 9, 2026

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Aug 31, 2026
License
Apache-2.0

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# Hunting for DCOM Lateral Movement

> **Authorized Testing Disclaimer**: The offensive techniques and attack simulations described in this skill are intended exclusively for authorized penetration testing, red team engagements, purple team exercises, and security research conducted with explicit written permission from the system owner. Unauthorized use of these techniques against systems you do not own or have permission to test is illegal and unethical. Always operate within the scope of your engagement and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

## Overview

Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) enables remote execution of COM objects across a network using RPC. Adversaries abuse specific DCOM objects -- MMC20.Application (CLSID {49B2791A-B1AE-4C90-9B8E-E860BA07F889}), ShellBrowserWindow (CLSID {C08AFD90-F2A1-11D1-8455-00A0C91F3880}), and ShellWindows (CLSID {9BA05972-F6A8-11CF-A442-00A0C90A8F39}) -- to execute commands on remote hosts without dropping files, making this a stealthy lateral movement technique mapped to MITRE ATT&CK T1021.003. This skill provides detection strategies using Sysmon telemetry, Windows Security Event correlation, network monitoring, and SIEM detection rules to identify DCOM abuse in enterprise environments.

## When to Use

- Proactively hunting for lateral movement in Active Directory environments where DCOM is enabled
- Investigating alerts for suspicious mmc.exe, dllhost.exe, or explorer.exe child process creation on servers
- Building detection rules for MITRE ATT&CK T1021.003 (Remote Services: Distributed Component Object Model)
- Correlating Sysmon Event ID 1 (Process Create) and Event ID 3 (Network Connection) to trace DCOM-based command execution chains
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