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T1021.006 Windows Remote Management

Adversaries may use Valid Accounts to interact with remote systems using Windows Remote Management (WinRM). The adversary may then perform actions as the logged-on user.

WinRM is the name of both a Windows service and a protocol that allows a user to interact with a remote system (e.g., run an executable, modify the Registry, modify services).1 It may be called with the winrm command or by any number of programs such as PowerShell.2 WinRM can be used as a method of remotely interacting with Windows Management Instrumentation.3

Item Value
ID T1021.006
Sub-techniques T1021.001, T1021.002, T1021.003, T1021.004, T1021.005, T1021.006, T1021.007
Tactics TA0008
Platforms Windows
Permissions required Administrator, User
Version 1.1
Created 11 February 2020
Last Modified 23 June 2021

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S1063 Brute Ratel C4 Brute Ratel C4 can use WinRM for pivoting.7
G0114 Chimera Chimera has used WinRM for lateral movement.12
S0154 Cobalt Strike Cobalt Strike can use WinRM to execute a payload on a remote host.89
S0692 SILENTTRINITY SILENTTRINITY tracks TrustedHosts and can move laterally to these targets via WinRM.6
C0024 SolarWinds Compromise During the SolarWinds Compromise, APT29 used WinRM via PowerShell to execute commands and payloads on remote hosts.13
G0027 Threat Group-3390 Threat Group-3390 has used WinRM to enable remote execution.11
G0102 Wizard Spider Wizard Spider has used Window Remote Management to move laterally through a victim network.10

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1042 Disable or Remove Feature or Program Disable the WinRM service.
M1030 Network Segmentation If the service is necessary, lock down critical enclaves with separate WinRM infrastructure and follow WinRM best practices on use of host firewalls to restrict WinRM access to allow communication only to/from specific devices.5
M1026 Privileged Account Management If the service is necessary, lock down critical enclaves with separate WinRM accounts and permissions.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0017 Command Command Execution
DS0028 Logon Session Logon Session Creation
DS0029 Network Traffic Network Connection Creation
DS0009 Process Process Creation
DS0019 Service Service Metadata

References

  1. Microsoft. (n.d.). Windows Remote Management. Retrieved November 12, 2014. ↩

  2. Jacobsen, K. (2014, May 16). Lateral Movement with PowerShell[slides]. Retrieved November 12, 2014. ↩

  3. Microsoft. (n.d.). Windows Management Instrumentation. Retrieved April 27, 2016. ↩

  4. French, D. (2018, September 30). Detecting Lateral Movement Using Sysmon and Splunk. Retrieved October 11, 2019. ↩

  5. National Security Agency/Central Security Service Information Assurance Directorate. (2015, August 7). Spotting the Adversary with Windows Event Log Monitoring. Retrieved September 6, 2018. ↩

  6. Salvati, M. (2019, August 6). SILENTTRINITY Modules. Retrieved March 24, 2022. ↩

  7. Harbison, M. and Renals, P. (2022, July 5). When Pentest Tools Go Brutal: Red-Teaming Tool Being Abused by Malicious Actors. Retrieved February 1, 2023. ↩

  8. Strategic Cyber LLC. (2017, March 14). Cobalt Strike Manual. Retrieved May 24, 2017. ↩

  9. Strategic Cyber LLC. (2020, November 5). Cobalt Strike: Advanced Threat Tactics for Penetration Testers. Retrieved April 13, 2021. ↩

  10. DHS/CISA. (2020, October 28). Ransomware Activity Targeting the Healthcare and Public Health Sector. Retrieved October 28, 2020. ↩

  11. Counter Threat Unit Research Team. (2017, June 27). BRONZE UNION Cyberespionage Persists Despite Disclosures. Retrieved July 13, 2017. ↩

  12. Jansen, W . (2021, January 12). Abusing cloud services to fly under the radar. Retrieved January 19, 2021. ↩

  13. Symantec Threat Hunter Team. (2021, January 18). Raindrop: New Malware Discovered in SolarWinds Investigation. Retrieved January 19, 2021. ↩