T1068
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Containers · Linux · macOS · Windows1 piece on this siteT1068 on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges. Exploitation of a software vulnerability occurs when an adversary takes advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to execute adversary-controlled code.
If this is happening now
Checklists and playbooks to open while the alert is still live.
Cloud account compromise
Impossible travel, an unrecognised inbox rule, or a reported invoice-fraud attempt.
Read
Analyses, case studies, guides, references and interview questions.
CISA just added four old local privilege escalation bugs to KEV. That is the interesting part.
Between 25 and 27 August, KEV gained CVEs from 2015, 2021 and 2022, most of them local and none of them remote entry points. A catalogue of what attackers are actively using is telling you about the second stage, and about how much end-of-life software is still running.
how MITRE says to see it
Detection Strategy for Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
- Detects exploitation attempts targeting vulnerable kernel drivers or OS components, often followed by unusual process or token behavior.
- Detects escalation via vulnerable setuid binaries or kernel modules, often chained with unusual access to /proc/kallsyms or /dev/kmem.
- Detects use of vulnerable kernel extensions or entitlements abused via setuid or AppleScript injection chains.
- Detects container breakout behavior via exploitation (e.g., DirtyPipe, CVE-2022-0847), followed by host OS interaction or escalated capability assignment.
what reduces it
- M1038 Execution Prevention. Consider blocking the execution of known vulnerable drivers that adversaries may exploit to execute code in kernel mode. Validate driver block rules in audit mode to ensure stability prior to production deployment.
- M1019 Threat Intelligence Program. Develop a robust cyber threat intelligence capability to determine what types and levels of threat may use software exploits and 0-days against a particular organization.
- M1048 Application Isolation and Sandboxing. Make it difficult for adversaries to advance their operation through exploitation of undiscovered or unpatched vulnerabilities by using sandboxing. Other types of virtualization and application microsegmentation may also mitigate the impact of some types of exploitation. Risks of additional exploits and weaknesses in these systems may still exist.
- M1050 Exploit Protection. Security applications that look for behavior used during exploitation such as Windows Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG) and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) can be used to mitigate some exploitation behavior. Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring.
- M1051 Update Software. Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.