cyberstrikeus T1584.001 Domains
Sub-technique of: T1584
High-Level Description
Adversaries may hijack domains and/or subdomains that can be used during targeting. Domain registration hijacking is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of the original registrant. Adversaries may gain access to an email account for the person listed as the owner of the domain. The adversary can then claim that they forgot their password in order to make changes to the domain registration. Other possibilities include social engineering a domain registration help desk to gain access to an account, taking advantage of renewal process gaps, or compromising a cloud service that enables managing domains (e.g., AWS Route53).
Subdomain hijacking can occur when organizations have DNS entries that point to non-existent or deprovisioned resources. In such cases, an adversary may take control of a subdomain to conduct operations with the benefit of the trust associated with that domain.
Adversaries who compromise a domain may also engage in domain shadowing by creating malicious subdomains under their control while keeping any existing DNS records. As service will not be disrupted, the malicious subdomains may go unnoticed for long periods of time.
Kill Chain Phase
- Resource Development (TA0042)
Platforms: PRE
What to Check
- Identify if Domains technique is applicable to target environment
- Check PRE systems for indicators of Domains
- Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (1 known mitigations)
- Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)
How to Test
Manual Testing
Identify Attack Surface: Determine if the target environment is susceptible to Domains by examining the target platforms (PRE).
Assess Existing Defenses: Review whether mitigations for T1584.001 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
M1056 Pre-compromise
This technique cannot be easily mitigated with preventive controls since it is based on behaviors performed outside of the scope of enterprise defenses and controls.
Detection
Detection of Domains
Risk Assessment
| Finding | Severity | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Domains technique applicable | High | Resource Development |
CWE Categories
| CWE ID | Title |
|---|---|
| N/A | No direct CWE mapping |