tracing-keys.md

Tracing Registry Keys

Tracing registry keys can be used to indicate that a program has initiated a network connection leveraging the Windows Remote Access Server (RAS) through the rasapi32.dll and rasman.dll libraries.

Analysis Value

• Execution - Evidence of Execution
• Network - Evidence of Network Activity

Operating System Availability

• Windows 11
• Windows 10
• Windows 8
• Windows 7

Artifact Location(s)

🔋 Live System:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing

🔌 Offline system:

• File: %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
• Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing

Artifact Parsers

• RegistryExplorer (Eric Zimmerman)

Artifact Interpretation

Within the SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing key, there may be multiple subkeys with the following name formats of interest:

• {EXECUTABLE_FILENAME}_RASMANCS
• {EXECUTABLE_FILENAME}_RASAPI32

These filenames will not include the executable extension .exe.

The Last Write Timestamp of the registry key provides the first time an executable has loaded rasapi32.dll and rasman.dll in order to establish a remote network connection, typically to download a file. Subsequent activity of this nature will not update the Last Write Timestamp of the registry key.