Disable or Remove Feature or Program

Remove or deny access to unnecessary and potentially vulnerable software to prevent abuse by adversaries.

ID: M1042

Version: 1.1

Created: 11 June 2019

Last Modified: 31 March 2020

Techniques Addressed by Mitigation

Domain	ID		Name	Use
Enterprise	T1098		Account Manipulation	Remove unnecessary and potentially abusable authentication and authorization mechanisms where possible.
		.001	Additional Cloud Credentials	Remove unnecessary and potentially abusable authentication mechanisms where possible. For example, in Entra ID environments, disable the app password feature unless explicitly required.
		.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	If email delegation is not required, disable it. In Google Workspace this can be accomplished through the Google Admin console.^[1]
		.004	SSH Authorized Keys	Disable SSH if it is not necessary on a host or restrict SSH access for specific users/groups using `/etc/ssh/sshd_config`.
Enterprise	T1595	.003	Active Scanning: Wordlist Scanning	Remove or disable access to any systems, resources, and infrastructure that are not explicitly required to be available externally.
Enterprise	T1557		Adversary-in-the-Middle	Disable legacy network protocols that may be used to intercept network traffic if applicable, especially those that are not needed within an environment.
		.001	LLMNR/NBT-NS Poisoning and SMB Relay	Disable LLMNR and NetBIOS in local computer security settings or by group policy if they are not needed within an environment. ^[2]
		.002	ARP Cache Poisoning	Consider disabling updating the ARP cache on gratuitous ARP replies.
Enterprise	T1547	.007	Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Re-opened Applications	This feature can be disabled entirely with the following terminal command: `defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no`.
Enterprise	T1059		Command and Scripting Interpreter	Disable or remove any unnecessary or unused shells or interpreters.
		.001	PowerShell	It may be possible to remove PowerShell from systems when not needed, but a review should be performed to assess the impact to an environment, since it could be in use for many legitimate purposes and administrative functions. Disable/restrict the WinRM Service to help prevent uses of PowerShell for remote execution.
		.005	Visual Basic	Turn off or restrict access to unneeded VB components.
		.007	JavaScript	Turn off or restrict access to unneeded scripting components.
Enterprise	T1092		Communication Through Removable Media	Disable Autoruns if it is unnecessary.^[3]
Enterprise	T1609		Container Administration Command	Remove unnecessary tools and software from containers.
Enterprise	T1555	.004	Credentials from Password Stores: Windows Credential Manager	Consider enabling the "Network access: Do not allow storage of passwords and credentials for network authentication" setting that will prevent network credentials from being stored by the Credential Manager.^[4]
Enterprise	T1114	.003	Email Collection: Email Forwarding Rule	Consider disabling external email forwarding.^[5]
Enterprise	T1611		Escape to Host	Remove unnecessary tools and software from containers.
Enterprise	T1546	.002	Event Triggered Execution: Screensaver	Use Group Policy to disable screensavers if they are unnecessary.^[6]
		.014	Event Triggered Execution: Emond	Consider disabling emond by removing the Launch Daemon plist file.
Enterprise	T1011		Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium	Disable WiFi connection, modem, cellular data connection, Bluetooth, or another radio frequency (RF) channel in local computer security settings or by group policy if it is not needed within an environment.
		.001	Exfiltration Over Bluetooth	Disable Bluetooth in local computer security settings or by group policy if it is not needed within an environment.
Enterprise	T1052		Exfiltration Over Physical Medium	Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. ^[3] Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if they are not required for business operations. ^[7]
		.001	Exfiltration over USB	Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. ^[3] Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if they are not required for business operations. ^[7]
Enterprise	T1210		Exploitation of Remote Services	Minimize available services to only those that are necessary.
Enterprise	T1133		External Remote Services	Disable or block remotely available services that may be unnecessary.
Enterprise	T1564	.006	Hide Artifacts: Run Virtual Instance	Disable Hyper-V if not necessary within a given environment.
		.007	Hide Artifacts: VBA Stomping	Turn off or restrict access to unneeded VB components.^[8]
Enterprise	T1562	.010	Impair Defenses: Downgrade Attack	Consider removing previous versions of tools that are unnecessary to the environment when possible.
Enterprise	T1559		Inter-Process Communication	Registry keys specific to Microsoft Office feature control security can be set to disable automatic DDE/OLE execution. ^[9]^[10]^[11] Microsoft also created, and enabled by default, Registry keys to completely disable DDE execution in Word and Excel.^[12]
		.002	Dynamic Data Exchange	Registry keys specific to Microsoft Office feature control security can be set to disable automatic DDE/OLE execution. ^[9]^[10]^[11] Microsoft also created, and enabled by default, Registry keys to completely disable DDE execution in Word and Excel.^[12]
Enterprise	T1046		Network Service Discovery	Ensure that unnecessary ports and services are closed to prevent risk of discovery and potential exploitation.
Enterprise	T1137		Office Application Startup	Follow Office macro security best practices suitable for your environment. Disable Office VBA macros from executing. Disable Office add-ins. If they are required, follow best practices for securing them by requiring them to be signed and disabling user notification for allowing add-ins. For some add-ins types (WLL, VBA) additional mitigation is likely required as disabling add-ins in the Office Trust Center does not disable WLL nor does it prevent VBA code from executing. ^[13]
		.001	Office Template Macros	Follow Office macro security best practices suitable for your environment. Disable Office VBA macros from executing. Disable Office add-ins. If they are required, follow best practices for securing them by requiring them to be signed and disabling user notification for allowing add-ins. For some add-ins types (WLL, VBA) additional mitigation is likely required as disabling add-ins in the Office Trust Center does not disable WLL nor does it prevent VBA code from executing. ^[13]
Enterprise	T1219		Remote Access Software	Consider disabling unnecessary remote connection functionality, including both unapproved software installations and specific features built into supported applications.
Enterprise	T1563		Remote Service Session Hijacking	Disable the remote service (ex: SSH, RDP, etc.) if it is unnecessary.
		.001	SSH Hijacking	Ensure that agent forwarding is disabled on systems that do not explicitly require this feature to prevent misuse. ^[14]
		.002	RDP Hijacking	Disable the RDP service if it is unnecessary.
Enterprise	T1021		Remote Services	If remote services, such as the ability to make direct connections to cloud virtual machines, are not required, disable these connection types where feasible.
		.001	Remote Desktop Protocol	Disable the RDP service if it is unnecessary.
		.003	Distributed Component Object Model	Consider disabling DCOM through Dcomcnfg.exe.^[15]
		.004	SSH	Disable the SSH daemon on systems that do not require it. For macOS ensure Remote Login is disabled under Sharing Preferences.^[16]
		.005	VNC	Uninstall any VNC server software where not required.
		.006	Windows Remote Management	Disable the WinRM service.
		.008	Direct Cloud VM Connections	If direct virtual machine connections are not required for administrative use, disable these connection types where feasible.
Enterprise	T1091		Replication Through Removable Media	Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. ^[3] Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if it is not required for business operations. ^[7]
Enterprise	T1505		Server Software Component	Consider disabling software components from servers when possible to prevent abuse by adversaries.^[17]
		.003	Web Shell	Consider disabling functions from web technologies such as PHP’s `evaI()` that may be abused for web shells.^[17]
Enterprise	T1649		Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates	Consider disabling old/dangerous authentication protocols (e.g. NTLM), as well as unnecessary certificate features, such as potentially vulnerable AD CS web and other enrollment server roles.^[18]
Enterprise	T1553	.005	Subvert Trust Controls: Mark-of-the-Web Bypass	Consider disabling auto-mounting of disk image files (i.e., .iso, .img, .vhd, and .vhdx). This can be achieved by modifying the Registry values related to the Windows Explorer file associations in order to disable the automatic Explorer "Mount and Burn" dialog for these file extensions. Note: this will not deactivate the mount functionality itself.^[19]
Enterprise	T1218		System Binary Proxy Execution	Many native binaries may not be necessary within a given environment.
		.003	CMSTP	CMSTP.exe may not be necessary within a given environment (unless using it for VPN connection installation).
		.004	InstallUtil	InstallUtil may not be necessary within a given environment.
		.005	Mshta	Mshta.exe may not be necessary within a given environment since its functionality is tied to older versions of Internet Explorer that have reached end of life.
		.007	Msiexec	Consider disabling the `AlwaysInstallElevated` policy to prevent elevated execution of Windows Installer packages.^[20]
		.008	Odbcconf	Odbcconf.exe may not be necessary within a given environment.
		.009	Regsvcs/Regasm	Regsvcs and Regasm may not be necessary within a given environment.
		.012	Verclsid	Consider removing verclsid.exe if it is not necessary within a given environment.
		.013	Mavinject	Consider removing mavinject.exe if Microsoft App-V is not used within a given environment.
		.014	MMC	MMC may not be necessary within a given environment since it is primarily used by system administrators, not regular users or clients.
		.015	Electron Applications	Remove or deny access to unnecessary and potentially vulnerable software and features to prevent abuse by adversaries. Many native binaries may not be necessary within a given environment: for example, consider disabling the Node.js integration in all renderers that display remote content to protect users by limiting adversaries’ power to plant malicious JavaScript within Electron applications.^[21]
Enterprise	T1221		Template Injection	Consider disabling Microsoft Office macros/active content to prevent the execution of malicious payloads in documents ^[22], though this setting may not mitigate the Forced Authentication use for this technique.
Enterprise	T1205		Traffic Signaling	Disable Wake-on-LAN if it is not needed within an environment.
Enterprise	T1127		Trusted Developer Utilities Proxy Execution	Specific developer utilities may not be necessary within a given environment and should be removed if not used.
		.001	MSBuild	MSBuild.exe may not be necessary within an environment and should be removed if not being used.
		.002	ClickOnce	Disable ClickOnce installations from the internet using the following registry key: `\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\Security\TrustManager\PromptingLevel — Internet:Disabled`^[23]^[24] ClickOnce may not be necessary within an environment and should be disabled if not being used.
Enterprise	T1552	.005	Unsecured Credentials: Cloud Instance Metadata API	Disable unnecessary metadata services and restrict or disable insecure versions of metadata services that are in use to prevent adversary access.^[25]

References

Google. (n.d.). Turn Gmail delegation on or off. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
Metcalf, S. (2016, October 21). Securing Windows Workstations: Developing a Secure Baseline. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
Microsoft. (n.d.). How to disable the Autorun functionality in Windows. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
Microsoft. (2016, August 31). Network access: Do not allow storage of passwords and credentials for network authentication. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
Carr, N., Sellmer, S. (2021, June 14). Behind the scenes of business email compromise: Using cross-domain threat data to disrupt a large BEC campaign. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
Microsoft. (n.d.). Customizing the Desktop. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
Microsoft. (2007, August 31). https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771759(v=ws.10).aspx. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
Microsoft. (2020, January 23). How to turn off Visual Basic for Applications when you deploy Office. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
Microsoft. (2017, November 8). Microsoft Security Advisory 4053440 - Securely opening Microsoft Office documents that contain Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) fields. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
Cimpanu, C. (2017, December 15). Microsoft Disables DDE Feature in Word to Prevent Further Malware Attacks. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
Dormann, W. (2017, October 20). Disable DDEAUTO for Outlook, Word, OneNote, and Excel versions 2010, 2013, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
Microsoft. (2017, December 12). ADV170021 - Microsoft Office Defense in Depth Update. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
Knowles, W. (2017, April 21). Add-In Opportunities for Office Persistence. Retrieved July 3, 2017.

Disable or Remove Feature or Program

Enterprise Layer

Techniques Addressed by Mitigation

References