T1137 Office Application Startup Mappings

Adversaries may leverage Microsoft Office-based applications for persistence between startups. Microsoft Office is a fairly common application suite on Windows-based operating systems within an enterprise network. There are multiple mechanisms that can be used with Office for persistence when an Office-based application is started; this can include the use of Office Template Macros and add-ins.

A variety of features have been discovered in Outlook that can be abused to obtain persistence, such as Outlook rules, forms, and Home Page.(Citation: SensePost Ruler GitHub) These persistence mechanisms can work within Outlook or be used through Office 365.(Citation: TechNet O365 Outlook Rules)

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Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name
AC-10 Concurrent Session Control Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
AC-17 Remote Access Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
CM-2 Baseline Configuration Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
CM-6 Configuration Settings Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
CM-8 System Component Inventory Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
SI-2 Flaw Remediation Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
SI-3 Malicious Code Protection Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
SI-4 System Monitoring Protects T1137 Office Application Startup
action.hacking.variety.Abuse of functionality Abuse of functionality related-to T1137 Office Application Startup
action.hacking.vector.Backdoor or C2 Backdoor or command and control channel related-to T1137 Office Application Startup

ATT&CK Subtechniques

Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
T1137.001 Office Template Macros 7
T1137.002 Office Test 7
T1137.003 Outlook Forms 3
T1137.004 Outlook Home Page 3
T1137.005 Outlook Rules 3