T1574.007: Path Interception by PATH Environment Variable
| View on MITRE ATT&CK | T1574.007 |
|---|---|
| Tactic(s) | Privilege Escalation, Persistence, Defense Evasion |
| Associated CAPEC Patterns | Leveraging/Manipulating Configuration File Search Paths (CAPEC-38) , Subverting Environment Variable Values (CAPEC-13) |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK®:
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking environment variables used to load libraries. The PATH environment variable contains a list of directories (User and System) that the OS searches sequentially through in search of the binary that was called from a script or the command line.
Adversaries can place a malicious program in an earlier entry in the list of directories stored in the PATH environment variable, resulting in the operating system executing the malicious binary rather than the legitimate binary when it searches sequentially through that PATH listing.
For example, on Windows if an adversary places a malicious program named "net.exe" in C:\example path, which by default precedes C:\Windows\system32\net.exe in the PATH environment variable, when "net" is executed from the command-line the C:\example path will be called instead of the system's legitimate executable at C:\Windows\system32\net.exe. Some methods of executing a program rely on the PATH environment variable to determine the locations that are searched when the path for the program is not given, such as executing programs from a Command and Scripting Interpreter.(Citation: ExpressVPN PATH env Windows 2021)
Adversaries may also directly modify the $PATH variable specifying the directories to be searched. An adversary can modify the $PATH variable to point to a directory they have write access. When a program using the $PATH variable is called, the OS searches the specified directory and executes the malicious binary. On macOS, this can also be performed through modifying the $HOME variable. These variables can be modified using the command-line, launchctl, Unix Shell Configuration Modification, or modifying the /etc/paths.d folder contents.(Citation: uptycs Fake POC linux malware 2023)(Citation: nixCraft macOS PATH variables)(Citation: Elastic Rules macOS launchctl 2022)
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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
Audit
Perform audits or scans of systems, permissions, insecure software, insecure configurations, etc. to identify potential weaknesses.Execution Prevention
Block execution of code on a system through application control, and/or script blocking.Restrict File and Directory Permissions
Restrict access by setting directory and file permissions that are not specific to users or privileged accounts.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)Process Creation (Process)
The initial construction of an executable managed by the OS, that may involve one or more tasks or threads. (e.g. Win EID 4688, Sysmon EID 1, cmd.exe > net use, etc.)File Creation (File)
Initial construction of a new file (ex: Sysmon EID 11)Windows Registry Key Modification (Windows Registry)
Changes made to a Registry Key and/or Key value (ex: Windows EID 4657 or Sysmon EID 13|14)Sigma Detections for 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.