Adversaries may use password cracking to attempt to recover usable credentials, such as plaintext passwords, when credential material such as password hashes are obtained. OS Credential Dumping can be used to obtain password hashes, this may only get an adversary so far when Pass the Hash is not an option. Further, adversaries may leverage Data from Configuration Repository in order to obtain hashed credentials for network devices.(Citation: US-CERT-TA18-106A)
Techniques to systematically guess the passwords used to compute hashes are available, or the adversary may use a pre-computed rainbow table to crack hashes. Cracking hashes is usually done on adversary-controlled systems outside of the target network.(Citation: Wikipedia Password cracking) The resulting plaintext password resulting from a successfully cracked hash may be used to log into systems, resources, and services in which the account has access.
View in MITRE ATT&CK®| Capability ID | Capability Description | Mapping Type | ATT&CK ID | ATT&CK Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PR.AA-05.02 | Privileged system access | Mitigates | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
This diagnostic statement protects against Password Cracking through the use of privileged account management and the use of multi-factor authentication.
References
|
| PR.PS-01.07 | Cryptographic keys and certificates | Mitigates | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
This diagnostic statement protects against Brute Force through the use of revocation of keys and key management. Employing limitations to specific accounts along with access control mechanisms provides protection against adversaries attempting to brute force credentials.
References
|
| PR.AA-03.01 | Authentication requirements | Mitigates | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
This diagnostic statement describes how the organization implement appropriate authentication requirements, including selecting mechanisms based on risk, utilizing multi-factor authentication where necessary, and safeguarding the storage of authenticators like pins and passwords to protect sensitive access credentials.
References
|
| PR.AA-01.01 | Identity and credential management | Mitigates | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
This diagnostic statement protects against Password Cracking through the use of hardened access control policies, secure defaults, password complexity requirements, multifactor authentication requirements, and removal of terminated accounts.
References
|
| Capability ID | Capability Description | Mapping Type | ATT&CK ID | ATT&CK Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| action.malware.variety.Capture app data | Capture data from application or system process | related-to | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
| Capability ID | Capability Description | Mapping Type | ATT&CK ID | ATT&CK Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| advanced_protection_program | Advanced Protection Program | technique_scores | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
Advanced Protection Program enables the use of a security key for multi-factor authentication. This provides significant protection against Brute Force techniques attempting to gain access to accounts.
References
|
| cloud_identity | Cloud Identity | technique_scores | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
This control may mitigate brute force attacks by enforcing multi-factor authentication, enforcing strong password policies, and rotating credentials periodically. These recommendations are IAM best practices but must be explicitly implemented by a cloud administrator.
References
|
| identity_platform | Identity Platform | technique_scores | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods, such as SMS, can also be used to help protect user accounts from phishing attacks. MFA provides significant protection against password compromises, requiring the adversary to complete an additional authentication method before their access is permitted.
References
|
| Capability ID | Capability Description | Mapping Type | ATT&CK ID | ATT&CK Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| amazon_cognito | Amazon Cognito | technique_scores | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
MFA can significantly reduce the impact of a password compromise, requiring the adversary to complete an additional authentication method before their access is permitted.
References
|
| amazon_inspector | Amazon Inspector | technique_scores | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
The Amazon Inspector Best Practices assessment package can detect security control settings related to authentication and password policies on Linux endpoints. Specific security controls it can assess include "Disable password authentication over SSH", "Configure password maximum age", "Configure password minimum length", and "Configure password complexity" all of which impact the ability to brute force a password. This information can be used identify insecure configurations and harden the endpoints. Amazon Inspector does not directly protect against brute force attacks. Given Amazon Inspector can only assess these security controls on Linux platforms (although it also supports Windows), the coverage score is Minimal leading to an overall Minimal score.
References
|
| aws_config | AWS Config | technique_scores | T1110.002 | Password Cracking |
Comments
The following AWS Config managed rules can identify configuration problems that should be fixed in order to ensure multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled properly, which can significantly impede brute force authentication attempts by requiring adversaries to provide a second form of authentication even if they succeed in brute forcing a password via one of these sub-techniques: "iam-user-mfa-enabled", "mfa-enabled-for-iam-console-access", "root-account-hardware-mfa-enabled", and "root-account-mfa-enabled".
The "iam-password-policy" managed rule can identify insufficient password requirements that should be fixed in order to make brute force authentication more difficult by increasing the complexity of user passwords and decreasing the amount of time before they are rotated, giving adversaries less time to brute force passwords and making it more time consuming and resource intensive to do so. This is especially important in the case of Password Cracking, since adversaries in possession of password hashes may be able to recover usable credentials more quickly and do so without generating detectable noise via invalid login attempts.
All of these controls are run periodically, but implemented policies are enforced continuously once set and coverage factor is significant, resulting in an overall score of Significant.
References
|