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Capec-653 Detail
Use of Known Operating System Credentials
Standard Software Likelihood: High Typical Severity: High
Parents: 560
Children: 561 644
Threats: T71 T75 T279 T283 T385 T388 T398 T402
Explore
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Acquire known operating system credentials: The adversary must obtain known operating system credentials in order to access the target system, application, or service within the domain.
| Techniques |
|---|
| An adversary purchases breached operating system username/password combinations or leaked hashed passwords from the dark web. |
| An adversary leverages a key logger or phishing attack to steal user credentials as they are provided. |
| An adversary conducts a sniffing attack to steal operating system credentials as they are transmitted. |
| An adversary gains access to a system/files and exfiltrates password hashes. |
| An adversary examines outward-facing configuration and properties files to discover hardcoded credentials. |
Experiment
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Attempt authentication: Try each operating system credential against various systems, applications, and services within the domain until the target grants access.
| Techniques |
|---|
| Manually or automatically enter each credential through the target's interface. |
Exploit
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Impersonate: An adversary can use successful experiments or authentications to impersonate an authorized user or system, or to laterally move within the network
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Spoofing: Malicious data can be injected into the target system or into other systems on the network. The adversary can also pose as a legitimate user to perform social engineering attacks.
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Data Exfiltration: The adversary can obtain sensitive data contained within system files or application configuration.
- The system/application uses one factor password-based authentication, SSO, and/or cloud-based authentication.
- The system/application does not have a sound password policy that is being enforced.
- The system/application does not implement an effective password throttling mechanism.
- The adversary possesses a list of known user accounts and corresponding passwords that may exist on the target.
- A list of known credentials for the targeted domain.
- A custom script that leverages a credential list to launch an attack.
| Low |
|---|
| Once an adversary obtains a known credential, leveraging it is trivial. |
| Integrity | Authorization | Access Control | Authentication | Confidentiality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modify Data | Read Data | Gain Privileges | Gain Privileges | Gain Privileges |
| Read Data |
- Adversaries exploited the Zoom video conferencing application during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to exfiltrate Windows domain credentials from a target system. The attack entailed sending Universal Naming Convention (UNC) paths within the Zoom chat window of an unprotected Zoom call. If the victim clicked on the link, their Windows usernames and the corresponding Net-NTLM-v2 hashes were sent to the address contained in the link. The adversary was then able to infiltrate and laterally move within the Windows domain by passing the acquired credentials to shared network resources. This further provided adversaries with access to Outlook servers and network storage devices. [REF-575]
- Mimikatz, a post-exploitation Windows credential harvester, can be used to gather and exploit Windows credentials. This malware has been used in several known cyberattacks, such as the Petya Ransomeware attacks. [REF-576]