T1546.010: AppInit DLLs
| View on MITRE ATT&CK | T1546.010 |
|---|---|
| Tactic(s) | Persistence, Privilege Escalation |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK®:
Adversaries may establish persistence and/or elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by AppInit DLLs loaded into processes. Dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) that are specified in the AppInit_DLLs value in the Registry keys HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows are loaded by user32.dll into every process that loads user32.dll. In practice this is nearly every program, since user32.dll is a very common library. (Citation: Elastic Process Injection July 2017)
Similar to Process Injection, these values can be abused to obtain elevated privileges by causing a malicious DLL to be loaded and run in the context of separate processes on the computer. (Citation: AppInit Registry) Malicious AppInit DLLs may also provide persistence by continuously being triggered by API activity.
The AppInit DLL functionality is disabled in Windows 8 and later versions when secure boot is enabled. (Citation: AppInit Secure Boot)
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MITRE ATT&CK Data Components
OS API Execution (Process)
Operating system function/method calls executed by a processProcess 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.)Module Load (Module)
Attaching a module into the memory of a process/program, typically to access shared resources/features provided by the module (ex: Sysmon EID 7)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. )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)Control Validation Tests for this Technique
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SP800-53 Controls
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