Exploitation for Evasion

Adversaries may exploit a software vulnerability to take advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to evade detection. Vulnerabilities may exist in software that can be used to disable or circumvent security features.

Adversaries may have prior knowledge through Remote System Information Discovery about security features implemented on control devices. These device security features will likely be targeted directly for exploitation. There are examples of firmware RAM/ROM consistency checks on control devices being targeted by adversaries to enable the installation of malicious System Firmware.

ID: T0820
Sub-techniques:  No sub-techniques
Tactic: Evasion
Platforms: None
Version: 1.1
Created: 21 May 2020
Last Modified: 13 October 2023

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S1009 Triton

Triton disables a firmware RAM/ROM consistency check after injects a payload (imain.bin) into the firmware memory region. [1] [2] [3] Triconex systems include continuous means of detection including checksums for firmware and program integrity, memory and memory reference integrity, and configuration. [4]

Targeted Assets

ID Asset
A0008 Application Server
A0007 Control Server
A0009 Data Gateway
A0006 Data Historian
A0002 Human-Machine Interface (HMI)
A0005 Intelligent Electronic Device (IED)
A0012 Jump Host
A0003 Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)
A0014 Routers
A0010 Safety Controller
A0011 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Server
A0001 Workstation

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M0948 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. [5]

M0950 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. [6] Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. [7] Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for all software or services targeted.

M0919 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.

M0951 Update Software

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

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component Detects
DS0015 Application Log Application Log Content

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.

References