T1606.001sub-technique of T1606 Forge Web Credentials
Web Cookies
Linux · macOS · Windows · SaaS · IaaSnothing on this site yetT1606.001 on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may forge web cookies 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 to authenticate and authorize user access. Adversaries may generate these cookies in order to gain access to web resources.
If this is happening now
Checklists and playbooks to open while the alert is still live.
Playbook for this stage
Cloud account compromise
Impossible travel, an unrecognised inbox rule, or a reported invoice-fraud attempt.
how MITRE says to see it
Detection Strategy for Forged Web Cookies
- Forged cookies in IaaS environments may appear as authentication attempts that bypass MFA, leveraging AssumeRole or session APIs with cookies that were never legitimately issued.
- Forged web cookies on Windows endpoints can be detected by monitoring unusual modifications of browser cookie stores (e.g., Chrome SQLite DB, Edge cache) by processes outside of browsers, followed by authentication events to SaaS or IaaS services.
- On Linux, defenders may observe forged cookie activity as unauthorized modifications to browser cookie databases (e.g., ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/cookies.sqlite, ~/.config/chromium/Default/Cookies) or scripted injection of session tokens.
- Forged cookies on macOS may show up as abnormal access to Safari/Chrome cookie databases in ~/Library/Cookies, combined with unexpected logon sessions authenticated by those cookies. Unified Logs may show cookie injection events or abnormal access patterns to Keychain when linked to browser authentication flows.
what reduces it
- M1054 Software Configuration. Configure browsers/applications to regularly delete persistent web cookies.
- M1047 Audit. Administrators should perform an audit of all access lists and the permissions they have been granted to access web applications and services. This should be done extensively on all resources in order to establish a baseline, followed up on with periodic audits of new or updated resources. Suspicious accounts/credentials should be investigated and removed.