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T1554 Compromise Host Software Binary

High-Level Description

Adversaries may modify host software binaries to establish persistent access to systems. Software binaries/executables provide a wide range of system commands or services, programs, and libraries. Common software binaries are SSH clients, FTP clients, email clients, web browsers, and many other user or server applications.

Adversaries may establish persistence though modifications to host software binaries. For example, an adversary may replace or otherwise infect a legitimate application binary (or support files) with a backdoor. Since these binaries may be routinely executed by applications or the user, the adversary can leverage this for persistent access to the host. An adversary may also modify a software binary such as an SSH client in order to persistently collect credentials during logins (i.e., Modify Authentication Process).

An adversary may also modify an existing binary by patching in malicious functionality (e.g., IAT Hooking/Entry point patching) prior to the binary’s legitimate execution. For example, an adversary may modify the entry point of a binary to point to malicious code patched in by the adversary before resuming normal execution flow.

After modifying a binary, an adversary may attempt to Impair Defenses by preventing it from updating (e.g., via the yum-versionlock command or versionlock.list file in Linux systems that use the yum package manager).

Kill Chain Phase

• Persistence (TA0003)

Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows, ESXi

What to Check

• Identify if Compromise Host Software Binary technique is applicable to target environment
• Check Linux systems for indicators of Compromise Host Software Binary
• Check macOS systems for indicators of Compromise Host Software Binary
• Check Windows systems for indicators of Compromise Host Software Binary
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (1 known mitigations)
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Manual Testing

1. Identify Attack Surface: Determine if the target environment is susceptible to Compromise Host Software Binary by examining the target platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows).

2. Assess Existing Defenses: Review whether mitigations for T1554 are in place. If defenses are absent or misconfigured, this technique may be exploitable.

3. Execute Test: Use tools and methods described in the MITRE ATT&CK page and external references below.

Note: No Atomic Red Team tests available for this technique. See Atomic Red Team GitHub for updates.

Remediation Guide

M1045 Code Signing

Ensure all application component binaries are signed by the correct application developers.

Detection

Detect Compromise of Host Software Binaries

Risk Assessment

CWE Categories

References

• Google Cloud Mandiant UNC3886 2024
• Unit42 Banking Trojans Hooking 2022
• ESET FontOnLake Analysis 2021
• Atomic Red Team - T1554
• MITRE ATT&CK - T1554