T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication Mappings

Adversaries may disable or modify multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms to enable persistent access to compromised accounts.

Once adversaries have gained access to a network by either compromising an account lacking MFA or by employing an MFA bypass method such as Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation, adversaries may leverage their access to modify or completely disable MFA defenses. This can be accomplished by abusing legitimate features, such as excluding users from Azure AD Conditional Access Policies, registering a new yet vulnerable/adversary-controlled MFA method, or by manually patching MFA programs and configuration files to bypass expected functionality.(Citation: Mandiant APT42)(Citation: Azure AD Conditional Access Exclusions)

For example, modifying the Windows hosts file (C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) to redirect MFA calls to localhost instead of an MFA server may cause the MFA process to fail. If a "fail open" policy is in place, any otherwise successful authentication attempt may be granted access without enforcing MFA. (Citation: Russians Exploit Default MFA Protocol - CISA March 2022)

Depending on the scope, goals, and privileges of the adversary, MFA defenses may be disabled for individual accounts or for all accounts tied to a larger group, such as all domain accounts in a victim's network environment.(Citation: Russians Exploit Default MFA Protocol - CISA March 2022)

View in MITRE ATT&CK®

Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name
AC-02 Account Management Protects T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
AC-03 Access Enforcement Protects T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
AC-06 Least Privilege Protects T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
IA-11 Re-authentication Protects T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
IA-02 Identification and Authentication (organizational Users) Protects T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
PUR-AS-E5 Audit Solutions Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
ME-RBAC-E3 Role Based Access Control Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
ME-PIM-E5 Privileged Identity Management Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
ME-IP-E5 Identity Protection Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
ME-CAE-E3 Conditional Access Evaluation Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
DEF-IR-E5 Incident Response Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
DO365-AG-E5 App Governance Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication
DO365-ATH-E5 Advanced Threat Hunting Technique Scores T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication