T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control elevate privileges to gain higher-level permissions. Most modern systems contain native elevation control mechanisms that are intended to limit privileges that a user can perform on a machine. Authorization has to be granted to specific users in order to perform tasks that can be considered of higher risk.(Citation: TechNet How UAC Works)(Citation: sudo man page 2018) An adversary can perform several methods to take advantage of built-in control mechanisms in order to escalate privileges on a system.(Citation: OSX Keydnap malware)(Citation: Fortinet Fareit)

View in MITRE ATT&CK®

CRI Profile Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
PR.IR-01.05 Remote access protection Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
Comments
This diagnostic statement implements security controls and restrictions for remote user access to systems. Remote user access control involves managing and securing how users remotely access systems, such as through encrypted connections and account use policies, which help prevent adversary access.
References
    PR.PS-01.01 Configuration baselines Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
    Comments
    This diagnostic statement provides for securely configuring production systems. This includes hardening default configurations and making security-focused setting adjustments to reduce the attack surface, enforce best practices, and protect sensitive data thereby mitigating adversary exploitation.
    References
      PR.PS-01.02 Least functionality Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
      Comments
      This diagnostic statement provides for limiting unnecessary software, services, ports, protocols, etc. Ensuring systems only have installed and enabled what is essential for their operation reduces the attack surface and minimizes vulnerabilities, which mitigates a wide range of techniques.
      References
        PR.AA-05.02 Privileged system access Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
        Comments
        This diagnostic statement protects against Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism through the use of privileged account management and the use of multi-factor authentication.
        References
          DE.CM-06.02 Third-party access monitoring Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
          Comments
          This diagnostic statement protects against Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism through the use of privileged account management. Employing auditing, privilege access management, and just in time access protects against adversaries trying to obtain illicit access to critical systems.
          References
            PR.AA-04.01 Access control within and across security perimeters Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
            Comments
            This diagnostic statement provides protection from Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism through the implementation of privileged account management controls to limit credential access. Employing limitations to specific accounts such as removing accounts from the Adminstrators group, access control mechanisms, and auditing the attribution logs provides some protection against adversaries attempting to abuse the elevation control mechanism.
            References
              PR.PS-02.01 Patch identification and application Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
              Comments
              This diagnostic statement is related to the implementation of a patch management program. Applying patches and upgrades for products and systems provided by vendors mitigates the risk of adversaries exploiting known vulnerabilities. For example, performing regular software updates is recommended to help mitigate exploitation risk via abuse of elevation control mechanisms.
              References
                PR.PS-01.03 Configuration deviation Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                Comments
                This diagnostic statement provides protection from Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism through the implementation of security configuration baselines for OS, software, file integrity monitoring and imaging. Security baselining and integrity checking can help protect against adversaries attempting to compromise and modify software and its configurations.
                References
                  PR.PS-05.02 Mobile code prevention Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                  Comments
                  Mobile code procedures address specific actions taken to prevent the development, acquisition, and introduction of unacceptable mobile code within organizational systems, including requiring mobile code to be digitally signed by a trusted source.
                  References
                    PR.AA-05.03 Service accounts Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                    Comments
                    This diagnostic statement describes how the organization establishes security standards based on industry guidelines to institute strict controls over service account (i.e., accounts used by systems to access other systems). Minimize permissions and access for service accounts to mitigate this technique.
                    References
                      DE.CM-03.03 Privileged account monitoring Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                      Comments
                      This diagnostic statement implements mechanisms and tools to mitigate potential misuse of privileged users and accounts. Continuous monitoring of role and attribute assignments and activity is essential to prevent and detect unauthorized access or misuse.
                      References
                        ID.AM-08.03 Data governance and lifecycle management Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                        Comments
                        This diagnostic statement prevents adversaries from being able to manipulate mechanisms to gain access to user's higher-level permissions and control elevated privileges. There may be some similarities to NIST 800-53 SI-12 Information Management and Retention. This may provide mitigation of data access/exfiltration techniques.
                        References
                          PR.AA-01.02 Physical and logical access Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                          Comments
                          This diagnostic statement describes how the organization ensures users are identified and authenticated before accessing systems, applications, and hardware, with logical access controls permitting access only to authorized individuals with legitimate business needs. Logical access controls in relation to systems can refer to the use of MFA, user account management, and other role-based access control mechanisms to enforce policies for authentication and authorization of user accounts.
                          References
                            PR.IR-01.06 Production environment segregation Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                            Comments
                            This diagnostic statement provides protections for production environments. Measures such as network segmentation and access control reduce the attack surface, restrict movement by adversaries, and protect critical assets and data from compromise.
                            References
                              ID.AM-08.05 Data destruction procedures Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                              Comments
                              This diagnostic statement prevents adversaries from being able to manipulate mechanisms to gain access to user's higher-level permissions and control elevated privileges. There may be some similarities to NIST 800-53 SI-12 Information Management and Retention. This may provide mitigation of data access/exfiltration techniques.
                              References
                                PR.AA-01.01 Identity and credential management Mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                Comments
                                This diagnostic statement protects against Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism through the use of hardened access control policies, secure defaults, password complexity requirements, multifactor authentication requirements, and removal of terminated accounts.
                                References

                                  NIST 800-53 Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  CA-07 Continuous Monitoring mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-06 Configuration Settings mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-05 Access Restrictions for Change mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SC-18 Mobile Code mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SI-12 Information Management and Retention mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SC-34 Non-modifiable Executable Programs mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SI-16 Memory Protection mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SI-02 Flaw Remediation mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  RA-05 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-08 System Component Inventory mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SI-03 Malicious Code Protection mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SI-07 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  AC-16 Security and Privacy Attributes mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-02 Baseline Configuration mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-02 Baseline Configuration mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  IA-02 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-07 Least Functionality mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  SI-04 System Monitoring mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  AC-02 Account Management mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  AC-03 Access Enforcement mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  AC-05 Separation of Duties mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  AC-06 Least Privilege mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  CM-03 Configuration Change Control mitigates T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

                                  VERIS Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  action.hacking.variety.Use of stolen creds Use of stolen or default authentication credentials (including credential stuffing) related-to T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  action.hacking.variety.Abuse of functionality Abuse of functionality. related-to T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

                                  Azure Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  file_integrity_monitoring Microsoft Defender for Cloud: File Integrity Monitoring technique_scores T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  Comments
                                  This control can detect abuse of elevation control mechanisms.
                                  References
                                  docker_host_hardening Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Docker Host Hardening technique_scores T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  Comments
                                  This control is only relevant for Linux endpoints containing Docker containers.
                                  References
                                  alerts_for_windows_machines Alerts for Windows Machines technique_scores T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  Comments
                                  The only sub-technique scored (Bypass User Account Control) is the only one relevant to Windows.
                                  References

                                  GCP Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  google_secops Google Security Operations technique_scores T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  Comments
                                  Google Security Ops is able to trigger an alert based on Custom Role changes. This technique was scored as minimal based on low or uncertain detection coverage factor. https://github.com/chronicle/detection-rules/blob/783e0e5947774785db1c55041b70176deeca6f46/gcp_cloudaudit/gcp_custom_role_changes.yaral
                                  References

                                  AWS Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  amazon_inspector Amazon Inspector technique_scores T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
                                  Comments
                                  The Amazon Inspector Best Practices assessment package can assess security control "Configure permissions for system directories" that prevents privilege escalation by local users and ensures only the root account can modify/execute system configuration information and binaries. Amazon Inspector does not directly protect against system modifications rather it just checks to see if security controls are in place which can inform decisions around hardening the system. Furthermore, Amazon Inspector only supports a subset of the sub-techniques for this technique. Due to these things and the fact the security control is only supported for Linux platforms, the score is Minimal.
                                  References

                                  ATT&CK Subtechniques

                                  Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
                                  T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control 27
                                  T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching 26
                                  T1548.001 Setuid and Setgid 8
                                  T1548.005 Temporary Elevated Cloud Access 11
                                  T1548.004 Elevated Execution with Prompt 14
                                  T1548.006 TCC Manipulation 26