| Name |
Windows Admin Shares with Stolen Credentials |
|
| Likelyhood of attack |
Typical severity |
| High |
High |
|
| Summary |
An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate Windows administrator credentials (e.g. userID/password) to access Windows Admin Shares on a local machine or within a Windows domain. |
| Prerequisites |
The system/application is connected to the Windows domain. The target administrative share allows remote use of local admin credentials to log into domain systems. The adversary possesses a list of known Windows administrator credentials that exist on the target domain. |
| Execution Flow |
| Step |
Phase |
Description |
Techniques |
| 1 |
Explore |
[Acquire known Windows administrator credentials] The adversary must obtain known Windows administrator credentials in order to access the administrative network shares. |
- An adversary purchases breached Windows administrator credentials from the dark web.
- An adversary leverages a key logger or phishing attack to steal administrator credentials as they are provided.
- An adversary conducts a sniffing attack to steal Windows administrator credentials as they are transmitted.
- An adversary gains access to a Windows domain system/files and exfiltrates Windows administrator password hashes.
- An adversary examines outward-facing configuration and properties files to discover hardcoded Windows administrator credentials.
|
| 2 |
Experiment |
[Attempt domain authentication] Try each Windows administrator credential against the hidden network shares until the target grants access. |
- Manually or automatically enter each administrator credential through the target's interface.
|
| 3 |
Exploit |
[Malware Execution] An adversary can remotely execute malware within the administrative network shares to infect other systems within the domain. |
|
| 4 |
Exploit |
[Data Exfiltration] The adversary can remotely obtain sensitive data contained within the administrative network shares. |
|
|
| Solutions | Do not reuse local administrator account credentials across systems. Deny remote use of local admin credentials to log into domain systems. Do not allow accounts to be a local administrator on more than one system. |
| Related Weaknesses |
|
CWE ID
|
Description
|
| CWE-262 |
Not Using Password Aging |
| CWE-263 |
Password Aging with Long Expiration |
| CWE-294 |
Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay |
| CWE-308 |
Use of Single-factor Authentication |
| CWE-309 |
Use of Password System for Primary Authentication |
| CWE-521 |
Weak Password Requirements |
| CWE-522 |
Insufficiently Protected Credentials |
|
| Related CAPECS |
|
CAPEC ID
|
Description
|
| CAPEC-151 |
Identity Spoofing refers to the action of assuming (i.e., taking on) the identity of some other entity (human or non-human) and then using that identity to accomplish a goal. An adversary may craft messages that appear to come from a different principle or use stolen / spoofed authentication credentials. |
| CAPEC-165 |
An attacker modifies file contents or attributes (such as extensions or names) of files in a manner to cause incorrect processing by an application. Attackers use this class of attacks to cause applications to enter unstable states, overwrite or expose sensitive information, and even execute arbitrary code with the application's privileges. This class of attacks differs from attacks on configuration information (even if file-based) in that file manipulation causes the file processing to result in non-standard behaviors, such as buffer overflows or use of the incorrect interpreter. Configuration attacks rely on the application interpreting files correctly in order to insert harmful configuration information. Likewise, resource location attacks rely on controlling an application's ability to locate files, whereas File Manipulation attacks do not require the application to look in a non-default location, although the two classes of attacks are often combined. |
| CAPEC-545 |
An adversary who is authorized or has the ability to search known system resources, does so with the intention of gathering useful information. System resources include files, memory, and other aspects of the target system. In this pattern of attack, the adversary does not necessarily know what they are going to find when they start pulling data. This is different than CAPEC-150 where the adversary knows what they are looking for due to the common location. |
| CAPEC-549 |
An adversary installs and executes malicious code on the target system in an effort to achieve a negative technical impact. Examples include rootkits, ransomware, spyware, adware, and others. |
| CAPEC-653 |
An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate operating system credentials (e.g. userID/password) to achieve authentication and to perform authorized actions on the system, under the guise of an authenticated user or service. This applies to any Operating System. |
|
| Taxonomy: ATTACK |
|
Entry ID
|
Entry Name
|
| 1021.002 |
Remote Services:SMB/Windows Admin Shares |
|