OS Credential Dumping: Security Account Manager

Threat Actors may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored. The SAM is a database file that contains local accounts for the host, typically those found with the net user command. Enumerating the SAM database requires SYSTEM level access.

ID: ATAGS-T1121.008
Sub-technique of:  ATAGS-T1121
Targeted Components: Mission, Personnel & Identity
Responsibility: Shared
Created: 18 April 2026
Last Modified: 18 April 2026

Mitigations

This type of attack technique cannot be easily mitigated with preventive controls since it is based on the abuse of system features.