System Resource Usage Monitor (SRUM)

The SRUM database is a forensic artifact that provides evidence of execution and network activity. It is used by Windows to provide telemetry regarding applications that run on an endpoint. It provides 30-60 days of resolution.

This artifact is present in both the registry as well as the filesystem, as an ESE database.

Analysis Value

Execution AccountEvidence of ExecutionFile PathSecurity IdentifierTransmit Volume

Operating System Availability

Major Version	Support	Major Version	Support
Windows 11	✅	Server 2019	✅
Windows 10	✅	Server 2016	❌
Windows 8	✅	Server 2012	❌
Windows 7	❌	Server 2008	❌
Windows Vista	❌	Server 2003	❌
Windows XP	❌

Artifact Location(s)

• Filesystem: %SystemRoot%\System32\sru\SRUDB.dat

• Registry: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\SRUM\Extensions

Artifact Parsers

• srum-dump

• ESEDatabaseView

• Registry Explorer

Artifact Interpretation

The recommended method to interpret this artifact is to use the srum-dump parser. It will allow you to specify the path the the SRUDB.dat file, the SOFTWARE registry hive, and easily convert the information into a presentable format in an Excel spreadsheet.

The SRUM database records information from a number of providers. If you are parsing this manually, you will encounter the following IDs:

Key	Provider
{973F5D5C-1D90-4944-BE8E-24B94231A174}	Network Data Usage Monitor
{D10CA2FE-6FCF-4F6D-848E-B2E99266FA86}	Push Notification Provider
{D10CA2FE-6FCF-4F6D-848E-B2E99266FA89}	Application Resource Usage Provider
{DD6636C4-8929-4683-974E-22C046A43763}	Network Connectivity Usage Monitor
{FEE4E14F-02A9-4550-B5CE-5FA2DA202E37}	Energy Usage Provider

The following information is available from these providers:

• Network Data Usage Monitor

  • Tracks network usage on a per-application basis

  • Application ID

  • User SID

  • Type of interface network traffic traversed (i.e., Ethernet, loopback, IEEE 802.11 wireless, etc.)

  • Bytes sent and received

• Push Notification Provider

  • Tracks push notification (WPM) activity on a per-application basis

  • Application Name

  • User SID

  • Push notification payload size

• Application Resource Usage

  • Application Name

  • User SID

  • Performance metrics such as CPU time, disk write/read bytes, etc.

• Network Connectivity Usage Monitor

  • Tracks each network the endpoint has been connected to.

  • Time of first connection

  • Duration of connection

  • Type of interface network traffic traversed (i.e., Ethernet, loopback, IEEE 802.11 wireless, etc.)

Network Data Usage Monitor

This artifact is useful for identifying potential data exfiltration events from Windows systems, as it captures network utilization over time, providing insight into the magnitude of the data transfer. Note that this artifact provides an hourly, bucketed count of how many bytes were sent and received by an application, therefore, the first and last SRUM entry will not correspond exactly to the first and last execution time. This can, however, be used to provide a rough estimate of the timeline of execution for an application.

Data collected is written to the SRUM database on the filesystem once per hour to reflect what is stored in the registry, or during system shutdown/reboot events. In the event that a proper shutdown was not conducted, the SRUM filesystem database may need to be repaired using a utility such as esentutl.