Event ID 16385 — DPAPIDefInformationEvent

Provider: Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI
Channel: Debug
Level: Informational
Task: DPAPIDefInformationTaskMessage

Description

DPAPIDefInformationEvent.

Message #

DPAPIDefInformationEvent

Fields #

Name	Description
`OperationType` UnicodeString	— Known values `%%1904` New registry value created `%%1905` Existing registry value modified `%%1906` Registry value deleted `%%14674` Value Added `%%14675` Value Deleted `%%14680` Value Added With Expiration Time `%%14681` Value Deleted With Expiration Time `%%14688` Value Auto Deleted With Expiration Time
`DataDescription` UnicodeString	—
`MasterKeyGUID` GUID	—
`Flags` UInt32	—
`ProtectionFlags` UInt32	—
`ReturnValue` UInt32	—
`CallerProcessStartKey` UInt64	—
`CallerProcessID` UInt32	—
`CallerProcessCreationTime` UInt64	—
`PlainTextDataSize` UInt32	—

Example Event #

{
  "system": {
    "provider": "Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI",
    "guid": "89FE8F40-CDCE-464E-8217-15EF97D4C7C3",
    "event_source_name": "",
    "event_id": 16385,
    "version": 0,
    "level": 4,
    "task": 64,
    "opcode": 0,
    "keywords": 2305843009213694016,
    "time_created": "2026-03-13T20:00:14.091877+00:00",
    "event_record_id": 1,
    "correlation": {
      "ActivityID": "8B83AF9E-B321-0001-1AB0-838B21B3DC01"
    },
    "execution": {
      "process_id": 968,
      "thread_id": 2796
    },
    "channel": "Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI/Debug",
    "computer": "LAB-DC01.ludus.domain",
    "security": {
      "user_id": "S-1-5-18"
    }
  },
  "event_data": {
    "OperationType": "SPCryptProtect",
    "DataDescription": "CryptoAPI Private Key",
    "MasterKeyGUID": "136A714A-6B76-4E4F-A4DB-98C60F841100",
    "Flags": 4,
    "ProtectionFlags": 4,
    "ReturnValue": 0,
    "CallerProcessStartKey": 3377699720528945,
    "CallerProcessID": 9080,
    "CallerProcessCreationTime": 134179056135234796,
    "PlainTextDataSize": 388
  },
  "message": ""
}

Community Notes #

Exposes the DPAPI operations (protect/unprotect) and the calling process. Disabled by default. See this Google Security blog post: Detecting browser data theft using Windows Event Logs.