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 is used to obtain password hashes, this may only get an adversary so far when Pass the Hash is not an option. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC-2 | Account Management | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| AC-20 | Use of External Systems | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| AC-3 | Access Enforcement | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| AC-5 | Separation of Duties | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| AC-6 | Least Privilege | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| AC-7 | Unsuccessful Logon Attempts | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| CA-7 | Continuous Monitoring | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| CM-2 | Baseline Configuration | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| CM-6 | Configuration Settings | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| IA-11 | Re-authentication | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| IA-2 | Identification and Authentication (organizational Users) | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| IA-4 | Identifier Management | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| IA-5 | Authenticator Management | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| SI-4 | System Monitoring | Protects | T1110.002 | Password Cracking | |
| action.hacking.variety.Brute force | Brute force or password guessing attacks | related-to | T1110.002 | Brute Force: Password Cracking | |
| action.hacking.variety.Offline cracking | Offline password or key cracking (e.g., rainbow tables, Hashcat, JtR) | related-to | T1110.002 | Brute Force: Password Cracking | |
| action.malware.variety.Brute force | Brute force attack | related-to | T1110.002 | Brute Force: Password Cracking | |
| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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