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T1543 Create or Modify System Process Mappings

Adversaries may create or modify system-level processes to repeatedly execute malicious payloads as part of persistence. When operating systems boot up, they can start processes that perform background system functions. On Windows and Linux, these system processes are referred to as services. (Citation: TechNet Services) On macOS, launchd processes known as Launch Daemon and Launch Agent are run to finish system initialization and load user specific parameters.(Citation: AppleDocs Launch Agent Daemons)

Adversaries may install new services, daemons, or agents that can be configured to execute at startup or a repeatable interval in order to establish persistence. Similarly, adversaries may modify existing services, daemons, or agents to achieve the same effect.

Services, daemons, or agents may be created with administrator privileges but executed under root/SYSTEM privileges. Adversaries may leverage this functionality to create or modify system processes in order to escalate privileges. (Citation: OSX Malware Detection).

View in MITRE ATT&CK®

NIST 800-53 Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
AC-17 Remote Access Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
AC-2 Account Management Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
AC-3 Access Enforcement Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
AC-5 Separation of Duties Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
AC-6 Least Privilege Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CA-7 Continuous Monitoring Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CA-8 Penetration Testing Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CM-11 User-installed Software Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CM-2 Baseline Configuration Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CM-3 Configuration Change Control Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CM-5 Access Restrictions for Change Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CM-6 Configuration Settings Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
CM-7 Least Functionality Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
IA-2 Identification and Authentication (organizational Users) Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
IA-4 Identifier Management Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
SA-22 Unsupported System Components Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
SI-16 Memory Protection Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
SI-3 Malicious Code Protection Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
SI-4 System Monitoring Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process
SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity Protects T1543 Create or Modify System Process

VERIS Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
action.hacking.variety.Abuse of functionality Abuse of functionality related-to T1543 Create or Modify System Process
action.hacking.variety.Use of backdoor or C2 Use of Backdoor or C2 channel related-to T1543 Create or Modify System Process
action.hacking.vector.Backdoor or C2 Backdoor or command and control channel related-to T1543 Create or Modify System Process
action.malware.variety.Backdoor Backdoor (enable remote access). Child of 'RAT' when combined with 'Trojan' related-to T1543 Create or Modify System Process
action.malware.variety.Rootkit Rootkit (maintain local privileges and stealth) related-to T1543 Create or Modify System Process

AWS Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
amazon_inspector Amazon Inspector technique_scores T1543 Create or Modify System Process
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
  1. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/inspector/latest/userguide/inspector_introduction.html

ATT&CK Subtechniques

Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
T1543.001 Launch Agent 8
T1543.004 Launch Daemon 8
T1543.002 Systemd Service 18
T1543.003 Windows Service 17