T1484 Domain Policy Modification Mappings

Adversaries may modify the configuration settings of a domain to evade defenses and/or escalate privileges in domain environments. Domains provide a centralized means of managing how computer resources (ex: computers, user accounts) can act, and interact with each other, on a network. The policy of the domain also includes configuration settings that may apply between domains in a multi-domain/forest environment. Modifications to domain settings may include altering domain Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or changing trust settings for domains, including federation trusts.

With sufficient permissions, adversaries can modify domain policy settings. Since domain configuration settings control many of the interactions within the Active Directory (AD) environment, there are a great number of potential attacks that can stem from this abuse. Examples of such abuse include modifying GPOs to push a malicious Scheduled Task to computers throughout the domain environment(Citation: ADSecurity GPO Persistence 2016)(Citation: Wald0 Guide to GPOs)(Citation: Harmj0y Abusing GPO Permissions) or modifying domain trusts to include an adversary controlled domain where they can control access tokens that will subsequently be accepted by victim domain resources.(Citation: Microsoft - Customer Guidance on Recent Nation-State Cyber Attacks) Adversaries can also change configuration settings within the AD environment to implement a Rogue Domain Controller.

Adversaries may temporarily modify domain policy, carry out a malicious action(s), and then revert the change to remove suspicious indicators.

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Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name
AC-02 Account Management Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
AC-03 Access Enforcement Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
AC-04 Information Flow Enforcement Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
AC-05 Separation of Duties Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
AC-06 Least Privilege Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
CA-08 Penetration Testing Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
CM-02 Baseline Configuration Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
CM-05 Access Restrictions for Change Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
CM-06 Configuration Settings Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
CM-07 Least Functionality Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
IA-02 Identification and Authentication (organizational Users) Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
RA-05 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
SI-04 System Monitoring Protects T1484 Domain Policy Modification
ME-RBAC-E3 Role Based Access Control Technique Scores T1484 Domain Policy Modification
DEF-SECA-E3 Security Alerts Technique Scores T1484 Domain Policy Modification
DEF-SECA-E3 Security Alerts Technique Scores T1484 Domain Policy Modification

ATT&CK Subtechniques

Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
T1484.002 Domain Trust Modification 1
T1484.001 Group Policy Modification 1