Skip to content

T0820 Exploitation for Evasion

Adversaries may exploit a software vulnerability to take advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to evade detection. Vulnerabilities may exist in software that can be used to disable or circumvent security features.

Adversaries may have prior knowledge through Remote System Information Discovery about security features implemented on control devices. These device security features will likely be targeted directly for exploitation. There are examples of firmware RAM/ROM consistency checks on control devices being targeted by adversaries to enable the installation of malicious System Firmware.

Item Value
ID T0820
Sub-techniques
Tactics TA0103
Platforms Field Controller/RTU/PLC/IED, Safety Instrumented System/Protection Relay
Version 1.1
Created 21 May 2020
Last Modified 09 March 2023

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S1009 Triton Triton disables a firmware RAM/ROM consistency check after injects a payload (imain.bin) into the firmware memory region. 4 5 6 Triconex systems include continuous means of detection including checksums for firmware and program integrity, memory and memory reference integrity, and configuration. 7

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M0948 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. 1
M0950 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. 2 Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. 3 Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for all software or services targeted.
M0919 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.
M0951 Update Software Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0015 Application Log Application Log Content

References

  1. Dan Goodin 2017, March Virtual machine escape fetches $105,000 at Pwn2Own hacking contest Retrieved. 2020/09/25  ↩

  2. Microsoft Security Response Center 2017, August Moving Beyond EMET II Windows Defender Exploit Guard Retrieved. 2020/09/25  ↩

  3. Wikipedia Microsoft Security Response Center 2017, August Moving Beyond EMET II Windows Defender Exploit Guard Retrieved. 2020/09/25 Control-flow integrity Retrieved. 2020/09/25  ↩

  4. DHS CISA 2019, February 27 MAR-17-352-01 HatManSafety System Targeted Malware (Update B) Retrieved. 2019/03/08  ↩

  5. ICS-CERT 2018, December 18 Advisory (ICSA-18-107-02) - Schneider Electric Triconex Tricon (Update B) Retrieved. 2019/03/08  ↩

  6. Schneider Electric 2018, January 23 TRITON - Schneider Electric Analysis and Disclosure Retrieved. 2019/03/14  ↩

  7. The Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Schneider Electric 2018, January 23 TRITON - Schneider Electric Analysis and Disclosure Retrieved. 2019/03/14 Triconex Topical Report 7286-545-1 Retrieved. 2018/05/30  ↩