Adversaries may rely on a user running a malicious image to facilitate execution. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Images, and Azure Images as well as popular container runtimes such as Docker can be backdoored. Backdoored images may be uploaded to a public repository via Upload Malware, and users may then download and deploy an instance or container from the image without realizing the image is malicious, thus bypassing techniques that specifically achieve Initial Access. This can lead to the execution of malicious code, such as code that executes cryptocurrency mining, in the instance or container.(Citation: Summit Route Malicious AMIs)
Adversaries may also name images a certain way to increase the chance of users mistakenly deploying an instance or container from the image (ex: Match Legitimate Name or Location).(Citation: Aqua Security Cloud Native Threat Report June 2021)
View in MITRE ATT&CK®| Capability ID | Capability Description | Mapping Type | ATT&CK ID | ATT&CK Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cloud_ids | Cloud IDS | technique_scores | T1204.003 | Malicious Image |
Comments
Often used by adversaries to establish persistence, Palo Alto Network's antivirus signatures is able to detect download attempts or traffic generated from malicious programs designed to mine cryptocurrency without the user's knowledge.
Although there are ways an attacker could modify the attack to avoid detection, this technique was scored as significant based on Palo Alto Network's advanced threat detection technology which constantly updates to detect against the latest known variations of these crypto-mining attacks
References
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| security_command_center | Security Command Center | technique_scores | T1204.003 | Malicious Image |
Comments
SCC is able to detect a potentially malicious binary being executed that was not part of the original container image. Because of the high threat detection coverage and near-real time temporal factor this control was graded as significant.
References
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| binary_authorization | Binary Authorization | technique_scores | T1204.003 | Malicious Image |
Comments
Each image has a signer digitally sign using a private key. At deploy time, the enforcer uses the attester's public key to verify the signature in the attestation.
References
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