1. Home
  2. Techniques
  3. Enterprise
  4. 权限提升漏洞利用

权限提升漏洞利用

权限提升漏洞利用指攻击者通过利用软件或系统漏洞获取更高权限级别的访问控制能力，通常涉及内核驱动漏洞利用、进程权限上下文篡改或虚拟化隔离突破等技术。传统防御侧重于检测异常进程行为、监控驱动加载事件以及分析系统调用异常模式，通过行为规则匹配和内存完整性校验等手段进行防护。

ID: T1068
Sub-techniques:  No sub-techniques
ⓘ
Tactic: 权限提升
ⓘ
Platforms: Containers, Linux, Windows, macOS
ⓘ
Permissions Required: User
ⓘ
Effective Permissions: User
Contributors: David Tayouri; Idan Revivo, @idanr86, Team Nautilus Aqua Security; Joas Antonio dos Santos, @C0d3Cr4zy, Inmetrics; Yaniv Agman, @AgmanYaniv, Team Nautilus Aqua Security
Version: 1.5
Created: 31 May 2017
Last Modified: 07 April 2023

匿迹效应

效应类型 是否存在
特征伪装 ✅
行为透明 ✅
数据遮蔽 ✅
时空释痕 ✅

特征伪装

攻击者通过数字签名滥用和进程伪装技术，将漏洞利用代码特征融入合法系统组件。例如劫持签名驱动程序的执行流程，使内核提权操作表现为正常的驱动功能调用；或通过进程空洞化注入，使恶意代码具有合法进程的数字签名与资源访问特征，有效规避基于代码特征或进程信誉的检测机制。

行为透明

利用零日漏洞和虚拟化层未公开缺陷实施提权，突破传统基于已知漏洞特征的检测体系。特别是跨虚拟化层攻击利用Hypervisor等底层组件监控盲区，使得提权行为在宿主监控层面不可见，形成"透明化"的权限跃迁通道。

数据遮蔽

采用内存加密传输和动态代码解密技术，在漏洞利用过程中对关键载荷进行实时加密。例如在进程注入时使用AES-GCM加密shellcode，仅在目标进程内存中解密执行；或利用CPU寄存器暂存敏感操作指令，避免在内存中留下完整攻击指纹。

时空释痕

通过上下文感知触发机制将攻击窗口控制在特定时空条件下，结合低频次、短时隙的漏洞利用策略。例如仅在目标系统执行特定服务时激活提权载荷，或利用云环境弹性伸缩特性在实例销毁前完成攻击，使得提权痕迹随资源回收自动消除。

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
G0007 APT28

APT28 has exploited CVE-2014-4076, CVE-2015-2387, CVE-2015-1701, CVE-2017-0263 to escalate privileges.[1][2][3]
G0016 APT29

APT29 has exploited CVE-2021-36934 to escalate privileges on a compromised host.[4]
G0050 APT32

APT32 has used CVE-2016-7255 to escalate privileges.[5]
G0064 APT33

APT33 has used a publicly available exploit for CVE-2017-0213 to escalate privileges on a local system.[6]
G1002 BITTER

BITTER has exploited CVE-2021-1732 for privilege escalation.[7][8]
S0484 Carberp

Carberp has exploited multiple Windows vulnerabilities (CVE-2010-2743, CVE-2010-3338, CVE-2010-4398, CVE-2008-1084) and a .NET Runtime Optimization vulnerability for privilege escalation.[9][10]
G0080 Cobalt Group

Cobalt Group has used exploits to increase their levels of rights and privileges.[11]
S0154 Cobalt Strike

Cobalt Strike can exploit vulnerabilities such as MS14-058.[12][13]
S0050 CosmicDuke

CosmicDuke attempts to exploit privilege escalation vulnerabilities CVE-2010-0232 or CVE-2010-4398.[14]
S0363 Empire

Empire can exploit vulnerabilities such as MS16-032 and MS16-135.[15]
G0037 FIN6

FIN6 has used tools to exploit Windows vulnerabilities in order to escalate privileges. The tools targeted CVE-2013-3660, CVE-2011-2005, and CVE-2010-4398, all of which could allow local users to access kernel-level privileges.[16]
G0061 FIN8

FIN8 has exploited the CVE-2016-0167 local vulnerability.[17][18]
S0601 Hildegard

Hildegard has used the BOtB tool which exploits CVE-2019-5736.[19]

S0260 InvisiMole

InvisiMole has exploited CVE-2007-5633 vulnerability in the speedfan.sys driver to obtain kernel mode privileges.[20]
S0044 JHUHUGIT

JHUHUGIT has exploited CVE-2015-1701 and CVE-2015-2387 to escalate privileges.[21][22]
G1004 LAPSUS$

LAPSUS$ has exploited unpatched vulnerabilities on internally accessible servers including JIRA, GitLab, and Confluence for privilege escalation.[23]
G1019 MoustachedBouncer

MoustachedBouncer has exploited CVE-2021-1732 to execute malware components with elevated rights.[24]
S0664 Pandora

Pandora can use CVE-2017-15303 to bypass Windows Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE) protection and load its driver.[25]
G0068 PLATINUM

PLATINUM has leveraged a zero-day vulnerability to escalate privileges.[26]
S0378 PoshC2

PoshC2 contains modules for local privilege escalation exploits such as CVE-2016-9192 and CVE-2016-0099.[27]
S0654 ProLock

ProLock can use CVE-2019-0859 to escalate privileges on a compromised host.[28]
S0125 Remsec

Remsec has a plugin to drop and execute vulnerable Outpost Sandbox or avast! Virtualization drivers in order to gain kernel mode privileges.[29]
G1015 Scattered Spider

Scattered Spider has deployed a malicious kernel driver through exploitation of CVE-2015-2291 in the Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver for Windows (iqvw64.sys).[30]
S0623 Siloscape

Siloscape has leveraged a vulnerability in Windows containers to perform an Escape to Host.[31]
S0603 Stuxnet

Stuxnet used MS10-073 and an undisclosed Task Scheduler vulnerability to escalate privileges on local Windows machines.[32]
G0027 Threat Group-3390

Threat Group-3390 has used CVE-2014-6324 and CVE-2017-0213 to escalate privileges.[33][34]
G0131 Tonto Team

Tonto Team has exploited CVE-2019-0803 and MS16-032 to escalate privileges.[35]
G0010 Turla

Turla has exploited vulnerabilities in the VBoxDrv.sys driver to obtain kernel mode privileges.[36]
G1017 Volt Typhoon

Volt Typhoon has gained initial access by exploiting privilege escalation vulnerabilities in the operating system or network services.[37]
G0107 Whitefly

Whitefly has used an open-source tool to exploit a known Windows privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2016-0051) on unpatched computers.[38]

S0176 Wingbird

Wingbird exploits CVE-2016-4117 to allow an executable to gain escalated privileges.[39]
S0658 XCSSET

XCSSET has used a zero-day exploit in the ssh launchdaemon to elevate privileges and bypass SIP.[40]
S1151 ZeroCleare

ZeroCleare has used a vulnerable signed VBoxDrv driver to bypass Microsoft Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE) protections and subsequently load the unsigned RawDisk driver.[41]
G0128 ZIRCONIUM

ZIRCONIUM has exploited CVE-2017-0005 for local privilege escalation.[42]
S0672 Zox

Zox has the ability to leverage local and remote exploits to escalate privileges.[43]

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
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. [44]
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.[45]
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. [46] Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. [47] Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for software components targeted for privilege escalation.
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.
M1051 Update Software

Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component Detects
DS0027 Driver Driver Load

Detecting software exploitation may be difficult depending on the tools available. Software exploits may not always succeed or may cause the exploited process to become unstable or crash. Also look for behavior on the endpoint system that might indicate successful compromise, such as abnormal behavior of the processes. This could include suspicious files written to disk, evidence of Process Injection for attempts to hide execution or evidence of Discovery. Consider monitoring for the presence or loading (ex: Sysmon Event ID 6) of known vulnerable drivers that adversaries may drop and exploit to execute code in kernel mode.[45] Higher privileges are often necessary to perform additional actions such as some methods of OS Credential Dumping. Look for additional activity that may indicate an adversary has gained higher privileges.
DS0009 Process Process Creation

Monitor for newly executed processes that may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges. After gaining initial access to a system, threat actors attempt to escalate privileges as they may be operating within a lower privileged process which does not allow them to access protected information or carry out tasks which require higher permissions. A common way of escalating privileges in a system is by externally invoking and exploiting spoolsv or connhost executables, both of which are legitimate Windows applications. This query searches for an invocation of either of these executables by a user, thus alerting us of any potentially malicious activity.

Note: Event IDs are for Sysmon (Event ID 1 - process create) and Windows Security Log (Event ID 4688 - a new process has been created). The Analytic is oriented around looking for an invocation of either spoolsv.exe or conhost.exe by a user, thus alerting us of any potentially malicious activity. A common way of escalating privileges in a system is by externally invoking and exploiting these executables, both of which are legitimate Windows applications.

Analytic 1 - Unusual Child Process for spoolsv.exe or connhost.exe

(source="WinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" EventCode="1") OR (source="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode="4688") (Image="C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe" OR Image="C:\Windows\System32\conhost.exe") AND ParentImage= "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe")

References

  1. Bitdefender. (2015, December). APT28 Under the Scope. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  2. Anthe, C. et al. (2015, October 19). Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 19. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  3. Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2018, February 20). A Slice of 2017 Sofacy Activity. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  4. ESET. (2022, February). THREAT REPORT T3 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  5. Carr, N.. (2017, May 14). Cyber Espionage is Alive and Well: APT32 and the Threat to Global Corporations. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  6. Ackerman, G., et al. (2018, December 21). OVERRULED: Containing a Potentially Destructive Adversary. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  7. JinQuan, MaDongZe, TuXiaoYi, and LiHao. (2021, February 10). Windows kernel zero-day exploit (CVE-2021-1732) is used by BITTER APT in targeted attack. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  8. Microsoft. (2018, February 9). Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2021-1732. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  9. Matrosov, A., Rodionov, E., Volkov, D., Harley, D. (2012, March 2). Win32/Carberp When You’re in a Black Hole, Stop Digging. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  10. Giuliani, M., Allievi, A. (2011, February 28). Carberp - a modular information stealing trojan. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  11. Matveeva, V. (2017, August 15). Secrets of Cobalt. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  12. Cobalt Strike. (2017, December 8). Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  13. Strategic Cyber LLC. (2020, November 5). Cobalt Strike: Advanced Threat Tactics for Penetration Testers. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  14. F-Secure Labs. (2015, September 17). The Dukes: 7 years of Russian cyberespionage. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  15. Schroeder, W., Warner, J., Nelson, M. (n.d.). Github PowerShellEmpire. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  16. FireEye Threat Intelligence. (2016, April). Follow the Money: Dissecting the Operations of the Cyber Crime Group FIN6. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  17. Kizhakkinan, D., et al. (2016, May 11). Threat Actor Leverages Windows Zero-day Exploit in Payment Card Data Attacks. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  18. Elovitz, S. & Ahl, I. (2016, August 18). Know Your Enemy: New Financially-Motivated & Spear-Phishing Group. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  19. Chen, J. et al. (2021, February 3). Hildegard: New TeamTNT Cryptojacking Malware Targeting Kubernetes. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  20. Hromcova, Z. and Cherpanov, A. (2020, June). INVISIMOLE: THE HIDDEN PART OF THE STORY. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  21. ESET. (2016, October). En Route with Sednit - Part 1: Approaching the Target. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  22. ESET Research. (2015, July 10). Sednit APT Group Meets Hacking Team. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  23. MSTIC, DART, M365 Defender. (2022, March 24). DEV-0537 Criminal Actor Targeting Organizations for Data Exfiltration and Destruction. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  24. Faou, M. (2023, August 10). MoustachedBouncer: Espionage against foreign diplomats in Belarus. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  1. Lunghi, D. and Lu, K. (2021, April 9). Iron Tiger APT Updates Toolkit With Evolved SysUpdate Malware. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  2. Windows Defender Advanced Threat Hunting Team. (2016, April 29). PLATINUM: Targeted attacks in South and Southeast Asia. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  3. Nettitude. (2018, July 23). Python Server for PoshC2. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  4. Group IB. (2020, September). LOCK LIKE A PRO. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  5. Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2016, August 9). The ProjectSauron APT. Technical Analysis. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  6. CrowdStrike. (2023, January 10). SCATTERED SPIDER Exploits Windows Security Deficiencies with Bring-Your-Own-Vulnerable-Driver Tactic in Attempt to Bypass Endpoint Security. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  7. Prizmant, D. (2021, June 7). Siloscape: First Known Malware Targeting Windows Containers to Compromise Cloud Environments. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  8. Nicolas Falliere, Liam O Murchu, Eric Chien 2011, February W32.Stuxnet Dossier (Version 1.4) Retrieved. 2017/09/22
  9. Counter Threat Unit Research Team. (2017, June 27). BRONZE UNION Cyberespionage Persists Despite Disclosures. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  10. Global Threat Center, Intelligence Team. (2020, December). APT27 Turns to Ransomware. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  11. Daniel Lughi, Jaromir Horejsi. (2020, October 2). Tonto Team - Exploring the TTPs of an advanced threat actor operating a large infrastructure. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
  12. Reichel, D. and Idrizovic, E. (2020, June 17). AcidBox: Rare Malware Repurposing Turla Group Exploit Targeted Russian Organizations. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  13. CISA et al.. (2024, February 7). PRC State-Sponsored Actors Compromise and Maintain Persistent Access to U.S. Critical Infrastructure. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  14. Symantec. (2019, March 6). Whitefly: Espionage Group has Singapore in Its Sights. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  15. Anthe, C. et al. (2016, December 14). Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 21. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  16. Mac Threat Response, Mobile Research Team. (2020, August 13). The XCSSET Malware: Inserts Malicious Code Into Xcode Projects, Performs UXSS Backdoor Planting in Safari, and Leverages Two Zero-day Exploits. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  17. Kessem, L. (2019, December 4). New Destructive Wiper ZeroCleare Targets Energy Sector in the Middle East. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  18. Itkin, E. and Cohen, I. (2021, February 22). The Story of Jian – How APT31 Stole and Used an Unknown Equation Group 0-Day. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  19. Novetta. (n.d.). Operation SMN: Axiom Threat Actor Group Report. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  20. Goodin, D. (2017, March 17). Virtual machine escape fetches $105,000 at Pwn2Own hacking contest - updated. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  21. Microsoft. (2020, October 15). Microsoft recommended driver block rules. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  22. Nunez, N. (2017, August 9). Moving Beyond EMET II – Windows Defender Exploit Guard. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  23. Wikipedia. (2018, January 11). Control-flow integrity. Retrieved March 12, 2018.