T1556.003: Pluggable Authentication Modules
| View on MITRE ATT&CK | T1556.003 |
|---|---|
| Tactic(s) | Persistence, Credential Access, Defense Evasion |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK®:
Adversaries may modify pluggable authentication modules (PAM) to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts. PAM is a modular system of configuration files, libraries, and executable files which guide authentication for many services. The most common authentication module is pam_unix.so, which retrieves, sets, and verifies account authentication information in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.(Citation: Apple PAM)(Citation: Man Pam_Unix)(Citation: Red Hat PAM)
Adversaries may modify components of the PAM system to create backdoors. PAM components, such as pam_unix.so, can be patched to accept arbitrary adversary supplied values as legitimate credentials.(Citation: PAM Backdoor)
Malicious modifications to the PAM system may also be abused to steal credentials. Adversaries may infect PAM resources with code to harvest user credentials, since the values exchanged with PAM components may be plain-text since PAM does not store passwords.(Citation: PAM Creds)(Citation: Apple PAM)
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Cyber Threat Graph Context
Explore how this ATT&CK Technique relates to the wider threat graph
Mitigations for this technique
MITRE ATT&CK Mitigations
Privileged Account Management
Manage the creation, modification, use, and permissions associated to privileged accounts, including SYSTEM and root.Multi-factor Authentication
Use two or more pieces of evidence to authenticate to a system; such as username and password in addition to a token from a physical smart card or token generator.How to detect this technique
MITRE ATT&CK Data Components
File Modification (File)
Changes made to a file, or its access permissions and attributes, typically to alter the contents of the targeted file (ex: Windows EID 4670 or Sysmon EID 2)Logon Session Creation (Logon Session)
Initial construction of a successful new user logon following an authentication attempt. (e.g. Windows EID 4624, /var/log/utmp, or /var/log/wmtp)Control Validation Tests for this Technique
Use Atomic Red Team tests to test your defenses against this technique.
SP800-53 Controls
See which controls can help protect against this MITRE ATT&CK technique. This is based on mappings to associated SP800-53 controls produced by the MITRE Engenuity Center for Threat-Informed Defense.