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T1134.003 Make and Impersonate Token

Adversaries may make new tokens and impersonate users to escalate privileges and bypass access controls. For example, if an adversary has a username and password but the user is not logged onto the system the adversary can then create a logon session for the user using the LogonUser function. The function will return a copy of the new session’s access token and the adversary can use SetThreadToken to assign the token to a thread.

This behavior is distinct from Token Impersonation/Theft in that this refers to creating a new user token instead of stealing or duplicating an existing one.

Item Value
ID T1134.003
Sub-techniques T1134.001, T1134.002, T1134.003, T1134.004, T1134.005
Tactics TA0005, TA0004
Platforms Windows
Permissions required Administrator, User
Version 1.1
Created 18 February 2020
Last Modified 11 April 2023

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0154 Cobalt Strike Cobalt Strike can make tokens from known credentials.6
S1060 Mafalda Mafalda can create a token for a different user.5

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1026 Privileged Account Management Limit permissions so that users and user groups cannot create tokens. This setting should be defined for the local system account only. GPO: Computer Configuration > [Policies] > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment: Create a token object. 2 Also define who can create a process level token to only the local and network service through GPO: Computer Configuration > [Policies] > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment: Replace a process level token.3
M1018 User Account Management An adversary must already have administrator level access on the local system to make full use of this technique; be sure to restrict users and accounts to the least privileges they require.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0017 Command Command Execution
DS0009 Process OS API Execution

References

  1. Mathers, B. (2017, March 7). Command line process auditing. Retrieved April 21, 2017. ↩

  2. Brower, N., Lich, B. (2017, April 19). Create a token object. Retrieved December 19, 2017. ↩

  3. Brower, N., Lich, B. (2017, April 19). Replace a process level token. Retrieved December 19, 2017. ↩

  4. Microsoft TechNet. (n.d.). Runas. Retrieved April 21, 2017. ↩

  5. SentinelLabs. (2022, September 22). Metador Technical Appendix. Retrieved April 4, 2023. ↩

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