Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.[1] Passwords are stored in several places on a system, depending on the operating system or application holding the credentials. There are also specific applications and services that store passwords to make them easier for users to manage and maintain, such as password managers and cloud secrets vaults. Once credentials are obtained, they can be used to perform lateral movement and access restricted information.
| ID | Name | Description | 
|---|---|---|
| S0331 | Agent Tesla | Agent Tesla has the ability to steal credentials from FTP clients and wireless profiles.[2] | 
| G0064 | APT33 | APT33 has used a variety of publicly available tools like LaZagne to gather credentials.[3][4] | 
| G0087 | APT39 | APT39 has used the Smartftp Password Decryptor tool to decrypt FTP passwords.[5] | 
| G0096 | APT41 | APT41 has obtained information about accounts, lists of employees, and plaintext and hashed passwords from databases.[6] | 
| S0373 | Astaroth | Astaroth uses an external software known as NetPass to recover passwords. [7] | 
| S1246 | BeaverTail | BeaverTail has collected keys stored for Solana stored in  | 
| S0484 | Carberp | Carberp's passw.plug plugin can gather account information from multiple instant messaging, email, and social media services, as well as FTP, VNC, and VPN clients.[9] | 
| S0050 | CosmicDuke | CosmicDuke collects user credentials, including passwords, for various programs including popular instant messaging applications and email clients as well as WLAN keys.[1] | 
| S1111 | DarkGate | DarkGate use Nirsoft Network Password Recovery or NetPass tools to steal stored RDP credentials in some malware versions.[10] | 
| G0120 | Evilnum | |
| G0037 | FIN6 | FIN6 has used the Stealer One credential stealer to target e-mail and file transfer utilities including FTP.[12] | 
| G1001 | HEXANE | HEXANE has run  | 
| S0526 | KGH_SPY | |
| S0349 | LaZagne | LaZagne can obtain credentials from databases, mail, and WiFi across multiple platforms.[15] | 
| G0077 | Leafminer | Leafminer used several tools for retrieving login and password information, including LaZagne.[16] | 
| S0447 | Lokibot | Lokibot has stolen credentials from multiple applications and data sources including Windows OS credentials, email clients, FTP, and SFTP clients.[17] | 
| G1026 | Malteiro | Malteiro has obtained credentials from mail clients via NirSoft MailPassView.[18] | 
| S1156 | Manjusaka | Manjusaka extracts credentials from the Windows Registry associated with Premiumsoft Navicat, a utility used to facilitate access to various database types.[19] | 
| S0167 | Matryoshka | Matryoshka is capable of stealing Outlook passwords.[20][21] | 
| S1146 | MgBot | MgBot includes modules for stealing stored credentials from Outlook and Foxmail email client software.[22][23] | 
| S0002 | Mimikatz | Mimikatz performs credential dumping to obtain account and password information useful in gaining access to additional systems and enterprise network resources. It contains functionality to acquire information about credentials in many ways, including from the credential vault and DPAPI.[24][25][26][27][28] | 
| S1122 | Mispadu | Mispadu has obtained credentials from mail clients via NirSoft MailPassView.[18][29][30] | 
| G0069 | MuddyWater | MuddyWater has performed credential dumping with LaZagne and other tools, including by dumping passwords saved in victim email.[31][32][33] | 
| S0198 | NETWIRE | NETWIRE can retrieve passwords from messaging and mail client applications.[34] | 
| G0049 | OilRig | OilRig has used credential dumping tools such as LaZagne to steal credentials to accounts logged into the compromised system and to Outlook Web Access.[35][36][37][38] | 
| S0138 | OLDBAIT | OLDBAIT collects credentials from several email clients.[39] | 
| S0048 | PinchDuke | PinchDuke steals credentials from compromised hosts. PinchDuke's credential stealing functionality is believed to be based on the source code of the Pinch credential stealing malware (also known as LdPinch). Credentials targeted by PinchDuke include ones associated with many sources such as The Bat!, Yahoo!, Mail.ru, Passport.Net, Google Talk, and Microsoft Outlook.[1] | 
| S0435 | PLEAD | PLEAD has the ability to steal saved passwords from Microsoft Outlook.[40] | 
| S0378 | PoshC2 | PoshC2 can decrypt passwords stored in the RDCMan configuration file.[41] | 
| S0113 | Prikormka | A module in Prikormka collects passwords stored in applications installed on the victim.[42] | 
| S0192 | Pupy | |
| S0262 | QuasarRAT | QuasarRAT can obtain passwords from common FTP clients.[44][45] | 
| S1240 | RedLine Stealer | RedLine Stealer has obtained credentials from VPN services, FTP clients and Instant Messenger (IM)/Chat clients.[46][47][48] | 
| C0024 | SolarWinds Compromise | During the SolarWinds Compromise, APT29 used account credentials they obtained to attempt access to Group Managed Service Account (gMSA) passwords.[49] | 
| G0038 | Stealth Falcon | Stealth Falcon malware gathers passwords from multiple sources, including Windows Credential Vault and Outlook.[50] | 
| G1017 | Volt Typhoon | Volt Typhoon has attempted to obtain credentials from OpenSSH, realvnc, and PuTTY.[51] | 
| S1207 | XLoader | XLoader can collect credentials stored in email clients.[52][53] | 
| ID | Mitigation | Description | 
|---|---|---|
| M1027 | Password Policies | The password for the user's login keychain can be changed from the user's login password. This increases the complexity for an adversary because they need to know an additional password. Organizations may consider weighing the risk of storing credentials in password stores and web browsers. If system, software, or web browser credential disclosure is a significant concern, technical controls, policy, and user training may be used to prevent storage of credentials in improper locations. | 
| M1026 | Privileged Account Management | Limit the number of accounts and services with permission to query information from password stores to only those required. Ensure that accounts and services with permissions to query password stores only have access to the secrets they require. | 
| M1051 | Update Software | Perform regular software updates to mitigate exploitation risk. | 
| ID | Name | Analytic ID | Analytic Description | 
|---|---|---|---|
| DET0430 | Detect Credentials Access from Password Stores | AN1198 | Monitors suspicious access to password stores such as LSASS, DPAPI, Windows Credential Manager, or browser credential databases. Detects anomalous process-to-process access (e.g., Mimikatz accessing LSASS) and correlation of credential store file reads with execution of non-standard processes. | 
| AN1199 | Detects access to known password store files (e.g., /etc/shadow, GNOME Keyring, KWallet, browser credential databases). Monitors anomalous process read attempts and suspicious API calls that attempt to extract stored credentials. | ||
| AN1200 | Monitors Keychain database access and suspicious invocations of security and osascript utilities. Correlates process execution with attempts to dump or unlock Keychain data. | ||
| AN1201 | Detects attempts to access or enumerate cloud password/secrets storage services such as AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, or GCP Secret Manager. Monitors API calls for abnormal enumeration or bulk retrieval of secrets. |