T1606 Forge Web Credentials

Adversaries may forge credential materials that can be used to gain access to web applications or Internet services. Web applications and services (hosted in cloud SaaS environments or on-premise servers) often use session cookies, tokens, or other materials to authenticate and authorize user access.

Adversaries may generate these credential materials in order to gain access to web resources. This differs from Steal Web Session Cookie, Steal Application Access Token, and other similar behaviors in that the credentials are new and forged by the adversary, rather than stolen or intercepted from legitimate users.

The generation of web credentials often requires secret values, such as passwords, Private Keys, or other cryptographic seed values.(Citation: GitHub AWS-ADFS-Credential-Generator) Adversaries may also forge tokens by taking advantage of features such as the AssumeRole and GetFederationToken APIs in AWS, which allow users to request temporary security credentials (i.e., Temporary Elevated Cloud Access), or the zmprov gdpak command in Zimbra, which generates a pre-authentication key that can be used to generate tokens for any user in the domain.(Citation: AWS Temporary Security Credentials)(Citation: Zimbra Preauth)

Once forged, adversaries may use these web credentials to access resources (ex: Use Alternate Authentication Material), which may bypass multi-factor and other authentication protection mechanisms.(Citation: Pass The Cookie)(Citation: Unit 42 Mac Crypto Cookies January 2019)(Citation: Microsoft SolarWinds Customer Guidance)

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 T1606 Forge Web Credentials
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 T1606 Forge Web Credentials
    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 T1606 Forge Web Credentials
      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 T1606 Forge Web Credentials
        Comments
        This diagnostic statement protects against Forge Web Credentials through the use of privileged account management and the use of multi-factor authentication.
        References
          DE.CM-06.02 Third-party access monitoring Mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
          Comments
          This diagnostic statement protects against Forge Web Credentials 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.PS-01.03 Configuration deviation Mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
            Comments
            This diagnostic statement provides protection from Forge Web Credentials 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
              DE.CM-03.03 Privileged account monitoring Mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
              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.IR-01.06 Production environment segregation Mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                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
                  PR.AA-01.01 Identity and credential management Mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                  Comments
                  This diagnostic statement protects against Forge Web Credentials 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
                    IA-13 Identity Providers and Authorization Servers mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    SC-17 Public Key Infrastructure Certificates mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    SI-02 Flaw Remediation mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    AC-02 Account Management mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    AC-03 Access Enforcement mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    AC-05 Separation of Duties mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    AC-06 Least Privilege mitigates T1606 Forge Web Credentials

                    VERIS Mappings

                    Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
                    action.hacking.variety.Session prediction Credential or session prediction. Child of 'Exploit vuln'. related-to T1606 Forge Web Credentials
                    action.hacking.variety.Unknown Unknown related-to T1606 Forge Web Credentials

                    ATT&CK Subtechniques

                    Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
                    T1606.002 SAML Tokens 11
                    T1606.001 Web Cookies 10