System Services

Adversaries may abuse system services or daemons to execute commands or programs. Adversaries can execute malicious content by interacting with or creating services either locally or remotely. Many services are set to run at boot, which can aid in achieving persistence (Create or Modify System Process), but adversaries can also abuse services for one-time or temporary execution.

ID: T1569
Sub-techniques:  T1569.001, T1569.002
Tactic: Execution
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Permissions Required: Administrator, SYSTEM, User, root
Supports Remote:  Yes
Version: 1.2
Created: 10 March 2020
Last Modified: 22 March 2022

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
G0139 TeamTNT

TeamTNT has created system services to execute cryptocurrency mining software.[1]

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1040 Behavior Prevention on Endpoint

On Windows 10, enable Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules to block processes created by PsExec from running. [2]

M1026 Privileged Account Management

Ensure that permissions disallow services that run at a higher permissions level from being created or interacted with by a user with a lower permission level.

M1022 Restrict File and Directory Permissions

Ensure that high permission level service binaries cannot be replaced or modified by users with a lower permission level.

M1018 User Account Management

Prevent users from installing their own launch agents or launch daemons.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component Detects
DS0017 Command Command Execution

Monitor for command line invocations of tools capable of modifying services that doesn’t correspond to normal usage patterns and known software, patch cycles, etc.

DS0022 File File Modification

Monitor for changes made to files that may abuse system services or daemons to execute commands or programs.

DS0009 Process Process Creation

Monitor newly executed processes that may abuse system services or daemons to execute commands or programs.

DS0019 Service Service Creation

Monitor for newly constructed services/daemons to execute commands or programs.

DS0024 Windows Registry Windows Registry Key Modification

Monitor for changes made to windows registry keys and/or values that may abuse system services or daemons to execute commands or programs.

References