1. Home
  2. ATT&CK Techniques
  3. T1556 Modify Authentication Process

T1556 Modify Authentication Process

Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts. The authentication process is handled by mechanisms, such as the Local Security Authentication Server (LSASS) process and the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) on Windows, pluggable authentication modules (PAM) on Unix-based systems, and authorization plugins on MacOS systems, responsible for gathering, storing, and validating credentials. By modifying an authentication process, an adversary may be able to authenticate to a service or system without using Valid Accounts.

Adversaries may maliciously modify a part of this process to either reveal credentials or bypass authentication mechanisms. Compromised credentials or access may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access and remote desktop.

View in MITRE ATT&CK®

CRI Profile Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
PR.PS-01.01 Configuration baselines Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
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 T1556 Modify Authentication Process
    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 T1556 Modify Authentication Process
      Comments
      This diagnostic statement protects against Modify Authentication Process through the use of privileged account management and the use of multi-factor authentication.
      References
        DE.CM-09.01 Software and data integrity checking Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
        Comments
        This diagnostic statement protects against Modify Authentication Process through the use of verifying integrity of software/firmware, loading software that is trusted, ensuring privileged process integrity and checking software signatures.
        References
          DE.CM-06.02 Third-party access monitoring Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
          Comments
          This diagnostic statement protects against Modify Authentication Process 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-02.01 Authentication of identity Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
            Comments
            This diagnostic statement provides protection from Modify Authentication Process through the implementation of privileged account management controls to limit credential access. Employing limitations to specific accounts, access control mechanisms, and auditing the attribution logs provides protection against adversaries attempting to modify credentials.
            References
              DE.CM-09.03 Unauthorized software, hardware, or configuration changes Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
              Comments
              This Diagnostic Statement addresses measures for managing configuration integrity and unauthorized changes that can mitigate risks associated with adversary techniques attempting to make changes to how the hardware, software, and firmware operates.
              References
                PR.PS-01.03 Configuration deviation Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                Comments
                This diagnostic statement provides protection from Modify Authentication Process through the implementation of security configuration baselines for OS, software, file integrity monitoring and imaging. Security baseline configuration of the Operating System (including only allowing valid DLLs, secure policies) and integrity checking can help protect against adversaries attempting to compromise and modify software and its configurations.
                References
                  PR.PS-01.07 Cryptographic keys and certificates Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                  Comments
                  This diagnostic statement protects against Modify Authentication Process through the use of revocation of keys and key management. Employing key protection strategies and key management for key material used in identity management and authentication processes, limitations to specific accounts along with access control mechanisms provides protection against adversaries attempting to modify authentication processes.
                  References
                    DE.CM-03.03 Privileged account monitoring Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                    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
                      PR.AA-01.02 Physical and logical access Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                      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.AA-03.01 Authentication requirements Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                        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-03.01 Authentication requirements Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                          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-03.01 Authentication requirements Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                            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.IR-01.05 Remote access protection Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                              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.AA-01.01 Identity and credential management Mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                Comments
                                This diagnostic statement protects against Modify Authentication Process 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 T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  CM-06 Configuration Settings mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  CM-05 Access Restrictions for Change mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  IA-05 Authenticator Management mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  IA-13 Identity Providers and Authorization Servers mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  SC-39 Process Isolation mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  SI-07 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  AC-20 Use of External Systems mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  CM-02 Baseline Configuration mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  IA-02 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  CM-07 Least Functionality mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  SI-04 System Monitoring mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  AC-02 Account Management mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  AC-03 Access Enforcement mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  AC-05 Separation of Duties mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  AC-06 Least Privilege mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  AC-07 Unsuccessful Logon Attempts mitigates T1556 Modify Authentication Process

                                  VERIS Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  action.hacking.variety.Backdoor Hacking action that creates a backdoor for use. related-to T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  action.hacking.vector.Backdoor Hacking actions taken through a backdoor. C2 is only used by malware. related-to T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  attribute.integrity.variety.Modify configuration Modified configuration or services related-to T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  attribute.integrity.variety.Modify privileges Modified privileges or permissions related-to T1556 Modify Authentication Process

                                  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 T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  Comments
                                  This control is effective for detecting the Registry and file system artifacts that are generated during the execution of some variations of this technique while minimizing false positives due to the locations being monitored changing infrequently (e.g. /etc/pam.d/).
                                  References
                                  1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/file-integrity-monitoring-overview
                                  ai_security_recommendations Microsoft Defender for Cloud: AI Security Recommendations technique_scores T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  Comments
                                  This control's "Immutable (read-only) root filesystem should be enforced for containers" recommendation can mitigate a sub-techniques of this technique. Due to it being a recommendation and providing minimal coverage, its score is assessed as Minimal.
                                  References
                                  1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/recommendations-reference-ai
                                  azure_role_based_access_control Azure Role-Based Access Control technique_scores T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  Comments
                                  This control can protect against modification of the authentication process by limiting access.
                                  References
                                  1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/overview

                                  GCP Mappings

                                  Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                                  advanced_protection_program Advanced Protection Program technique_scores T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  Comments
                                  Advanced Protection Program enables the use of a security key for multi-factor authentication. Integrating multi-factor authentication as part of organizational policy can greatly reduce the risk of an adversary gaining control of valid credentials that may be used for additional tactics such as initial access, lateral movement, and collecting information.
                                  References
                                  1. ['https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/']
                                  identity_platform Identity Platform technique_scores T1556 Modify Authentication Process
                                  Comments
                                  Identity Platform lets you add Google-grade authentication to your apps and services, making it easier to secure user accounts and securely managing credentials. MFA can be used to restrict access to cloud resources and APIs and provide protection against an adversaries that try to access user credentials.
                                  References
                                  1. ['https://cloud.google.com/identity-platform/docs/concepts']

                                  ATT&CK Subtechniques

                                  Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
                                  T1556.003 Pluggable Authentication Modules 22
                                  T1556.002 Password Filter DLL 7
                                  T1556.007 Hybrid Identity 15
                                  T1556.008 Network Provider DLL 16
                                  T1556.006 Multi-Factor Authentication 14
                                  T1556.009 Conditional Access Policies 18
                                  T1556.001 Domain Controller Authentication 26
                                  T1556.005 Reversible Encryption 10
                                  T1556.004 Network Device Authentication 24