Sub-technique of T1552 Unsecured Credentials.View on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may attempt to find unsecured credentials in Group Policy Preferences (GPP). GPP are tools that allow administrators to create domain policies with embedded credentials. These policies allow administrators to set local accounts.
These group policies are stored in SYSVOL on a domain controller. This means that any domain user can view the SYSVOL share and decrypt the password (using the AES key that has been made public).
The following tools and scripts can be used to gather and decrypt the password file from Group Policy Preference XML files:
* Metasploit’s post exploitation module: post/windows/gather/credentials/gpp
* Get-GPPPassword
* gpprefdecrypt.py
On the SYSVOL share, adversaries may use the following command to enumerate potential GPP XML files: dir /s * .xml
Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1552.006.
| Rule | Level | Log source |
|---|---|---|
| Findstr GPP Passwords | high | windows / process_creation |
| LSASS Process Reconnaissance Via Findstr.EXE | high | windows / process_creation |
| Access To Potentially Sensitive Sysvol Files By Uncommon Applications | medium | windows / file_access |
| Permission Misconfiguration Reconnaissance Via Findstr.EXE | medium | windows / process_creation |
| Suspicious SYSVOL Domain Group Policy Access | medium | windows / process_creation |
| Rule | Type | Risk | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Findstr GPP Discovery | TTP | NULL | Sysmon EventID 1, Windows Event Log Security 4688, CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2 |
| Windows PowerSploit GPP Discovery | TTP | NULL | Powershell Script Block Logging 4104 |
None recorded.
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| GroupAPT33 | APT33 has used a variety of publicly available tools like Gpppassword to gather credentials. |
| GroupWizard Spider | Wizard Spider has used PowerShell cmdlets `Get-GPPPassword` and `Find-GPOPassword` to find unsecured credentials in a compromised network group policy. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| MalwareMirrorStealer | MirrorStealer can target Group Policy Preferences for credentials. |
| ToolPowerSploit | PowerSploit contains a collection of Exfiltration modules that can harvest credentials from Group Policy Preferences. |
| ToolSILENTTRINITY | SILENTTRINITY has a module that can extract cached GPP passwords. |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
