Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, Technique T1068 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, Technique T1068 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®
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Techniques
Enterprise
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges. Exploitation of a software vulnerability occurs when an adversary takes advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to execute adversary-controlled code. Security constructs such as permission levels will often hinder access to information and use of certain techniques, so adversaries will likely need to perform privilege escalation to include use of software exploitation to circumvent those restrictions.
When initially gaining access to a system, an adversary may be operating within a lower privileged process which will prevent them from accessing certain resources on the system. Vulnerabilities may exist, usually in operating system components and software commonly running at higher permissions, that can be exploited to gain higher levels of access on the system. This could enable someone to move from unprivileged or user level permissions to SYSTEM or root permissions depending on the component that is vulnerable. This could also enable an adversary to move from a virtualized environment, such as within a virtual machine or container, onto the underlying host. This may be a necessary step for an adversary compromising an endpoint system that has been properly configured and limits other privilege escalation methods.
Adversaries may bring a signed vulnerable driver onto a compromised machine so that they can exploit the vulnerability to execute code in kernel mode. This process is sometimes referred to as Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD).
[1]
[2]
Adversaries may include the vulnerable driver with files delivered during Initial Access or download it to a compromised system via
Ingress Tool Transfer
or
Lateral Tool Transfer
ID:
T1068
Sub-techniques:
No sub-techniques
Tactic:
Privilege Escalation
Platforms:
Containers, Linux, Windows, macOS
Contributors:
David Tayouri; Idan Revivo, @idanr86, Team Nautilus Aqua Security; Joas Antonio dos Santos, @C0d3Cr4zy, Inmetrics; Yaniv Agman, @AgmanYaniv, Team Nautilus Aqua Security
Version:
1.6
Created:
31 May 2017
Last Modified:
15 April 2025
Version Permalink
Live Version
Procedure Examples
ID
Name
Description
G0007
APT28
APT28
has exploited CVE-2014-4076, CVE-2015-2387, CVE-2015-1701, CVE-2017-0263, and CVE-2022-38028 to escalate privileges.
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
G0016
APT29
APT29
has exploited CVE-2021-36934 to escalate privileges on a compromised host.
[7]
G0050
APT32
APT32
has used CVE-2016-7255 to escalate privileges.
[8]
G0064
APT33
APT33
has used a publicly available exploit for CVE-2017-0213 to escalate privileges on a local system.
[9]
G1002
BITTER
BITTER
has exploited CVE-2021-1732 for privilege escalation.
[10]
[11]
G1043
BlackByte
BlackByte
has exploited CVE-2024-37085 in VMWare ESXi software for authentication bypass and subsequent privilege escalation.
[12]
S1181
BlackByte 2.0 Ransomware
BlackByte 2.0 Ransomware
exploits a vulnerability in the RTCore64.sys driver (CVE-2019-16098) to enable privilege escalation and defense evasion when run as a service.
[13]
S0484
Carberp
Carberp
has exploited multiple Windows vulnerabilities (CVE-2010-2743, CVE-2010-3338, CVE-2010-4398, CVE-2008-1084) and a .NET Runtime Optimization vulnerability for privilege escalation.
[14]
[15]
G0080
Cobalt Group
Cobalt Group
has used exploits to increase their levels of rights and privileges.
[16]
S0154
Cobalt Strike
Cobalt Strike
can exploit vulnerabilities such as MS14-058.
[17]
[18]
S0050
CosmicDuke
CosmicDuke
attempts to exploit privilege escalation vulnerabilities CVE-2010-0232 or CVE-2010-4398.
[19]
S0363
Empire
Empire
can exploit vulnerabilities such as MS16-032 and MS16-135.
[20]
G0037
FIN6
FIN6
has used tools to exploit Windows vulnerabilities in order to escalate privileges. The tools targeted CVE-2013-3660, CVE-2011-2005, and CVE-2010-4398, all of which could allow local users to access kernel-level privileges.
[21]
G0061
FIN8
FIN8
has exploited the CVE-2016-0167 local vulnerability.
[22]
[23]
G0125
HAFNIUM
HAFNIUM
has targeted unpatched applications to elevate access in targeted organizations.
[24]
S0601
Hildegard
Hildegard
has used the BOtB tool which exploits CVE-2019-5736.
[25]
S0260
InvisiMole
InvisiMole
has exploited CVE-2007-5633 vulnerability in the speedfan.sys driver to obtain kernel mode privileges.
[1]
S0044
JHUHUGIT
JHUHUGIT
has exploited CVE-2015-1701 and CVE-2015-2387 to escalate privileges.
[26]
[27]
G1004
LAPSUS$
LAPSUS$
has exploited unpatched vulnerabilities on internally accessible servers including JIRA, GitLab, and Confluence for privilege escalation.
[28]
C0049
Leviathan Australian Intrusions
Leviathan
exploited software vulnerabilities in victim environments to escalate privileges during
Leviathan Australian Intrusions
[29]
G1019
MoustachedBouncer
MoustachedBouncer
has exploited CVE-2021-1732 to execute malware components with elevated rights.
[30]
G0049
OilRig
OilRig
has exploited the Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege vulnerability, CVE-2024-30088.
[31]
S0664
Pandora
Pandora
can use CVE-2017-15303 to bypass Windows Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE) protection and load its driver.
[32]
G0068
PLATINUM
PLATINUM
has leveraged a zero-day vulnerability to escalate privileges.
[33]
S0378
PoshC2
PoshC2
contains modules for local privilege escalation exploits such as CVE-2016-9192 and CVE-2016-0099.
[34]
S0654
ProLock
ProLock
can use CVE-2019-0859 to escalate privileges on a compromised host.
[35]
S0125
Remsec
Remsec
has a plugin to drop and execute vulnerable Outpost Sandbox or avast! Virtualization drivers in order to gain kernel mode privileges.
[36]
G1015
Scattered Spider
Scattered Spider
has deployed a malicious kernel driver through exploitation of CVE-2015-2291 in the Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver for Windows (iqvw64.sys).
[37]
C0045
ShadowRay
During
ShadowRay
, threat actors downloaded a privilege escalation payload to gain root access.
[38]
S0623
Siloscape
Siloscape
has leveraged a vulnerability in Windows containers to perform an
Escape to Host
[39]
S0603
Stuxnet
Stuxnet
used MS10-073 and an undisclosed Task Scheduler vulnerability to escalate privileges on local Windows machines.
[40]
G0027
Threat Group-3390
Threat Group-3390
has used CVE-2014-6324 and CVE-2017-0213 to escalate privileges.
[41]
[42]
G0131
Tonto Team
Tonto Team
has exploited CVE-2019-0803 and MS16-032 to escalate privileges.
[43]
G0010
Turla
Turla
has exploited vulnerabilities in the VBoxDrv.sys driver to obtain kernel mode privileges.
[2]
G1017
Volt Typhoon
Volt Typhoon
has gained initial access by exploiting privilege escalation vulnerabilities in the operating system or network services.
[44]
G0107
Whitefly
Whitefly
has used an open-source tool to exploit a known Windows privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2016-0051) on unpatched computers.
[45]
S0176
Wingbird
Wingbird
exploits CVE-2016-4117 to allow an executable to gain escalated privileges.
[46]
S0658
XCSSET
XCSSET
has used a zero-day exploit in the ssh launchdaemon to elevate privileges and bypass SIP.
[47]
S1151
ZeroCleare
ZeroCleare
has used a vulnerable signed VBoxDrv driver to bypass Microsoft Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE) protections and subsequently load the unsigned
RawDisk
driver.
[48]
G0128
ZIRCONIUM
ZIRCONIUM
has exploited CVE-2017-0005 for local privilege escalation.
[49]
S0672
Zox
Zox
has the ability to leverage local and remote exploits to escalate privileges.
[50]
Mitigations
ID
Mitigation
Description
M1048
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.
[51]
M1038
Execution Prevention
Consider blocking the execution of known vulnerable drivers that adversaries may exploit to execute code in kernel mode. Validate driver block rules in audit mode to ensure stability prior to production deployment.
[52]
M1050
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.
[53]
Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring.
[54]
Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for software components targeted for privilege escalation.
M1019
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.
M1051
Update Software
Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.
Detection
ID
Data Source
Data Component
Detects
DS0027
Driver
Driver Load
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. Also look for behavior on the endpoint system that might indicate successful compromise, such as abnormal behavior of the processes. This could include suspicious files written to disk, evidence of
Process Injection
for attempts to hide execution or evidence of Discovery. Consider monitoring for the presence or loading (ex: Sysmon Event ID 6) of known vulnerable drivers that adversaries may drop and exploit to execute code in kernel mode.
[52]
Higher privileges are often necessary to perform additional actions such as some methods of
OS Credential Dumping
. Look for additional activity that may indicate an adversary has gained higher privileges.
DS0009
Process
Process Creation
Monitor for newly executed processes that may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges. After gaining initial access to a system, threat actors attempt to escalate privileges as they may be operating within a lower privileged process which does not allow them to access protected information or carry out tasks which require higher permissions. A common way of escalating privileges in a system is by externally invoking and exploiting spoolsv or connhost executables, both of which are legitimate Windows applications. This query searches for an invocation of either of these executables by a user, thus alerting us of any potentially malicious activity.
Note: Event IDs are for Sysmon (Event ID 1 - process create) and Windows Security Log (Event ID 4688 - a new process has been created). The Analytic is oriented around looking for an invocation of either spoolsv.exe or conhost.exe by a user, thus alerting us of any potentially malicious activity. A common way of escalating privileges in a system is by externally invoking and exploiting these executables, both of which are legitimate Windows applications.
Analytic 1 - Unusual Child Process for spoolsv.exe or connhost.exe
(source="
WinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" EventCode="1") OR (source="
WinEventLog:Security" EventCode="4688") (Image="C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe" OR Image="C:\Windows\System32\conhost.exe") AND ParentImage= "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe")
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