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T1204.003 Malicious Image

Adversaries may rely on a user running a malicious image to facilitate execution. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Images, and Azure Images as well as popular container runtimes such as Docker can be backdoored. Backdoored images may be uploaded to a public repository via Upload Malware, and users may then download and deploy an instance or container from the image without realizing the image is malicious, thus bypassing techniques that specifically achieve Initial Access. This can lead to the execution of malicious code, such as code that executes cryptocurrency mining, in the instance or container.1

Adversaries may also name images a certain way to increase the chance of users mistakenly deploying an instance or container from the image (ex: Match Legitimate Name or Location).2

Item Value
ID T1204.003
Sub-techniques T1204.001, T1204.002, T1204.003
Tactics TA0002
Platforms Containers, IaaS
Permissions required User
Version 1.1
Created 30 March 2021
Last Modified 26 August 2021

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
G0139 TeamTNT TeamTNT relies on users to download and execute malicious Docker images.5

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1047 Audit Audit images deployed within the environment to ensure they do not contain any malicious components.
M1045 Code Signing Utilize a trust model such as Docker Content Trust with digital signatures to ensure runtime verification of the integrity and publisher of specific image tags.34
M1031 Network Intrusion Prevention Network prevention intrusion systems and systems designed to scan and remove malicious downloads can be used to block activity.
M1017 User Training Train users to be aware of the existence of malicious images and how to avoid deploying instances and containers from them.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0015 Application Log Application Log Content
DS0017 Command Command Execution
DS0032 Container Container Creation
DS0007 Image Image Creation
DS0030 Instance Instance Creation

References

  1. Piper, S.. (2018, September 24). Investigating Malicious AMIs. Retrieved March 30, 2021. ↩

  2. Team Nautilus. (2021, June). Attacks in the Wild on the Container Supply Chain and Infrastructure. Retrieved August 26, 2021. ↩

  3. Docker. (2019, October 10). Content trust in Docker. Retrieved October 16, 2019. ↩

  4. Microsoft. (2019, September 5). Content trust in Azure Container Registry. Retrieved October 16, 2019. ↩

  5. Stroud, J. (2021, May 25). Taking TeamTNT’s Docker Images Offline. Retrieved September 22, 2021. ↩

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