T1134.001: Token Impersonation/Theft
View on MITRE ATT&CK | T1134.001 |
---|---|
Tactic(s) | Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion |
Associated CAPEC Patterns | Reusing Session IDs (aka Session Replay) (CAPEC-60) |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK®:
Adversaries may duplicate then impersonate another user's existing token to escalate privileges and bypass access controls. For example, an adversary can duplicate an existing token using DuplicateToken
or DuplicateTokenEx
. The token can then be used with ImpersonateLoggedOnUser
to allow the calling thread to impersonate a logged on user's security context, or with SetThreadToken
to assign the impersonated token to a thread.
An adversary may perform Token Impersonation/Theft when they have a specific, existing process they want to assign the duplicated token to. For example, this may be useful for when the target user has a non-network logon session on the system.
When an adversary would instead use a duplicated token to create a new process rather than attaching to an existing process, they can additionally Create Process with Token using CreateProcessWithTokenW
or CreateProcessAsUserW
. Token Impersonation/Theft is also distinct from Make and Impersonate Token in that it refers to duplicating an existing token, rather than creating a new one.
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Cyber Threat Graph Context
Explore how this ATT&CK Technique relates to the wider threat graph
Reporting on this Technique
APT40 Advisory - PRC MSS tradecraft in action
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Suspected APT Actors Leverage Authentication Bypass Techniques and Pulse Secure Zero-Day
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Mitigations for this technique
MITRE ATT&CK Mitigations
How to detect this technique
MITRE ATT&CK Data Components
Command Execution (Command)
The execution of a line of text, potentially with arguments, created from program code (e.g. a cmdlet executed via powershell.exe, interactive commands like >dir, shell executions, etc. )OS API Execution (Process)
Operating system function/method calls executed by a processControl Validation Tests for this Technique
Use Atomic Red Team tests to test your defenses against this technique.
Sigma Detections for this Technique
HackTool - Koh Default Named Pipe
Meterpreter or Cobalt Strike Getsystem Service Installation - System
Meterpreter or Cobalt Strike Getsystem Service Installation - Security
HackTool - SharpImpersonation Execution
HackTool - NoFilter Execution
Potential Meterpreter/CobaltStrike Activity
Potential Access Token Abuse
HackTool - Impersonate Execution
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.