Skip to content

M1025 Privileged Process Integrity

Privileged Process Integrity focuses on defending highly privileged processes (e.g., system services, antivirus, or authentication processes) from tampering, injection, or compromise by adversaries. These processes often interact with critical components, making them prime targets for techniques like code injection, privilege escalation, and process manipulation. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures:

Protected Process Mechanisms:

  • Enable RunAsPPL on Windows systems to protect LSASS and other critical processes.
  • Use registry modifications to enforce protected process settings: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\RunAsPPL

Anti-Injection and Memory Protection:

  • Enable Control Flow Guard (CFG), DEP, and ASLR to protect against process memory tampering.
  • Deploy endpoint protection tools that actively block process injection attempts.

Code Signing Validation:

  • Implement policies for Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) or AppLocker to enforce execution of signed binaries.
  • Ensure critical processes are signed with valid certificates.

Access Controls:

  • Use DACLs and MIC to limit which users and processes can interact with privileged processes.
  • Disable unnecessary debugging capabilities for high-privileged processes.

Kernel-Level Protections:

  • Ensure Kernel Patch Protection (PatchGuard) is enabled on Windows systems.
  • Leverage SELinux or AppArmor on Linux to enforce kernel-level security policies.

Tools for Implementation

Protected Process Light (PPL):

  • RunAsPPL (Windows)
  • Windows Defender Credential Guard

Code Integrity and Signing:

  • Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC)
  • AppLocker
  • SELinux/AppArmor (Linux)

Memory Protection:

  • Control Flow Guard (CFG), Data Execution Prevention (DEP), ASLR

Process Isolation/Sandboxing:

  • Firejail (Linux Sandbox)
  • Windows Sandbox
  • QEMU/KVM-based isolation

Kernel Protection:

  • PatchGuard (Windows Kernel Patch Protection)
  • SELinux (Mandatory Access Control for Linux)
  • AppArmor
Item Value
ID M1025
Version 1.2
Created 06 June 2019
Last Modified 18 December 2024
Navigation Layer View In ATT&CK® Navigator

Techniques Addressed by Mitigation

Domain ID Name Use
enterprise T1547 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution -
enterprise T1547.002 Authentication Package Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and later versions, may make LSA run as a Protected Process Light (PPL) by setting the Registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\RunAsPPL, which requires all DLLs loaded by LSA to be signed by Microsoft. 2 3
enterprise T1547.005 Security Support Provider Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and later versions may make LSA run as a Protected Process Light (PPL) by setting the Registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\RunAsPPL, which requires all SSP DLLs to be signed by Microsoft. 2 3
enterprise T1547.008 LSASS Driver On Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2, enable LSA Protection by setting the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\RunAsPPL to dword:00000001. 1 LSA Protection ensures that LSA plug-ins and drivers are only loaded if they are digitally signed with a Microsoft signature and adhere to the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process guidance.
enterprise T1556 Modify Authentication Process Enabled features, such as Protected Process Light (PPL), for LSA.4
enterprise T1556.001 Domain Controller Authentication Enabled features, such as Protected Process Light (PPL), for LSA.4
enterprise T1003 OS Credential Dumping
On Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, enable Protected Process Light for LSA.4
enterprise T1003.001 LSASS Memory On Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, enable Protected Process Light for LSA.4

References

  1. Microsoft. (2014, March 12). Configuring Additional LSA Protection. Retrieved November 27, 2017. ↩

  2. Graeber, M. (2014, October). Analysis of Malicious Security Support Provider DLLs. Retrieved March 1, 2017. ↩↩

  3. Microsoft. (2013, July 31). Configuring Additional LSA Protection. Retrieved June 24, 2015. ↩↩

  4. Microsoft. (2013, July 31). Configuring Additional LSA Protection. Retrieved February 13, 2015. ↩↩↩↩