cyberstrikeus T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services
High-Level Description
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network. 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. A common goal for post-compromise exploitation of remote services is for lateral movement to enable access to a remote system.
An adversary may need to determine if the remote system is in a vulnerable state, which may be done through Network Service Discovery or other Discovery methods looking for common, vulnerable software that may be deployed in the network, the lack of certain patches that may indicate vulnerabilities, or security software that may be used to detect or contain remote exploitation. Servers are likely a high value target for lateral movement exploitation, but endpoint systems may also be at risk if they provide an advantage or access to additional resources.
There are several well-known vulnerabilities that exist in common services such as SMB and RDP as well as applications that may be used within internal networks such as MySQL and web server services. Additionally, there have been a number of vulnerabilities in VMware vCenter installations, which may enable threat actors to move laterally from the compromised vCenter server to virtual machines or even to ESXi hypervisors.
Depending on the permissions level of the vulnerable remote service an adversary may achieve Exploitation for Privilege Escalation as a result of lateral movement exploitation as well.
Kill Chain Phase
- Lateral Movement (TA0008)
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS, ESXi
What to Check
- Identify if Exploitation of Remote Services technique is applicable to target environment
- Check Linux systems for indicators of Exploitation of Remote Services
- Check Windows systems for indicators of Exploitation of Remote Services
- Check macOS systems for indicators of Exploitation of Remote Services
- Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (8 known mitigations)
- Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)
How to Test
Manual Testing
Identify Attack Surface: Determine if the target environment is susceptible to Exploitation of Remote Services by examining the target platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS).
Assess Existing Defenses: Review whether mitigations for T1210 are in place. If defenses are absent or misconfigured, this technique may be exploitable.
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
M1042 Disable or Remove Feature or Program
Minimize available services to only those that are necessary.
M1016 Vulnerability Scanning
Regularly scan the internal network for available services to identify new and potentially vulnerable services.
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. Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for all software or services targeted.
M1030 Network Segmentation
Segment networks and systems appropriately to reduce access to critical systems and services to controlled methods.
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.
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.
M1026 Privileged Account Management
Minimize permissions and access for service accounts to limit impact of exploitation.
M1051 Update Software
Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.
Detection
Exploitation of Remote Services – multi-platform lateral movement detection
Risk Assessment
| Finding | Severity | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Exploitation of Remote Services technique applicable | High | Lateral Movement |
CWE Categories
| CWE ID | Title |
|---|---|
| CWE-284 | Improper Access Control |