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T1555.003 Credentials from Web Browsers

Adversaries may acquire credentials from web browsers by reading files specific to the target browser.1 Web browsers commonly save credentials such as website usernames and passwords so that they do not need to be entered manually in the future. Web browsers typically store the credentials in an encrypted format within a credential store; however, methods exist to extract plaintext credentials from web browsers.

For example, on Windows systems, encrypted credentials may be obtained from Google Chrome by reading a database file, AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Login Data and executing a SQL query: SELECT action_url, username_value, password_value FROM logins;. The plaintext password can then be obtained by passing the encrypted credentials to the Windows API function CryptUnprotectData, which uses the victim’s cached logon credentials as the decryption key.2

Adversaries have executed similar procedures for common web browsers such as FireFox, Safari, Edge, etc.34 Windows stores Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge credentials in Credential Lockers managed by the Windows Credential Manager.

Adversaries may also acquire credentials by searching web browser process memory for patterns that commonly match credentials.5

After acquiring credentials from web browsers, adversaries may attempt to recycle the credentials across different systems and/or accounts in order to expand access. This can result in significantly furthering an adversary’s objective in cases where credentials gained from web browsers overlap with privileged accounts (e.g. domain administrator).

Item Value
ID T1555.003
Sub-techniques T1555.001, T1555.002, T1555.003, T1555.004, T1555.005
Tactics TA0006
Platforms Linux, Windows, macOS
Permissions required User
Version 1.1
Created 12 February 2020
Last Modified 15 February 2022

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0331 Agent Tesla Agent Tesla can gather credentials from a number of browsers.58
G0130 Ajax Security Team Ajax Security Team has used FireMalv custom-developed malware, which collected passwords from the Firefox browser storage.92
G0016 APT29 APT29 has stolen user’s saved passwords from Chrome.84
G0022 APT3 APT3 has used tools to dump passwords from browsers.88
G0064 APT33 APT33 has used a variety of publicly available tools like LaZagne to gather credentials.9091
G0067 APT37 APT37 has used a credential stealer known as ZUMKONG that can harvest usernames and passwords stored in browsers.93
S0344 Azorult Azorult can steal credentials from the victim’s browser.50
S0093 Backdoor.Oldrea Some Backdoor.Oldrea samples contain a publicly available Web browser password recovery tool.26
S0089 BlackEnergy BlackEnergy has used a plug-in to gather credentials from web browsers including FireFox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer.2829
S0657 BLUELIGHT BLUELIGHT can collect passwords stored in web browers, including Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, and Naver Whale.60
S0484 Carberp Carberp‘s passw.plug plugin can gather passwords saved in Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.21
S0631 Chaes Chaes can steal login credentials and stored financial information from the browser.57
S0144 ChChes ChChes steals credentials stored inside Internet Explorer.53
S0492 CookieMiner CookieMiner can steal saved usernames and passwords in Chrome as well as credit card credentials.46
S0050 CosmicDuke CosmicDuke collects user credentials, including passwords, for various programs including Web browsers.59
S0115 Crimson Crimson contains a module to steal credentials from Web browsers on the victim machine.4041
S0367 Emotet Emotet has been observed dropping browser password grabber modules. 2324
S0363 Empire Empire can use modules that extract passwords from common web browsers such as Firefox and Chrome.6
G0037 FIN6 FIN6 has used the Stealer One credential stealer to target web browsers.87
S0531 Grandoreiro Grandoreiro can steal cookie data and credentials from Google Chrome.6364
S0132 H1N1 H1N1 dumps usernames and passwords from Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Outlook.68
S0434 Imminent Monitor Imminent Monitor has a PasswordRecoveryPacket module for recovering browser passwords.8
G0100 Inception Inception used a browser plugin to steal passwords and sessions from Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Torch, and Yandex.70
S0528 Javali Javali can capture login credentials from open browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Edge.36
S0283 jRAT jRAT can capture passwords from common web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Firefox.22
S0387 KeyBoy KeyBoy attempts to collect passwords from browsers.39
S0526 KGH_SPY KGH_SPY has the ability to steal data from the Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Thunderbird, and Opera browsers.69
G0094 Kimsuky Kimsuky has used browser extensions including Google Chrome to steal passwords and cookies from browsers. Kimsuky has also used Nirsoft’s WebBrowserPassView tool to dump the passwords obtained from victims.74757372
S0356 KONNI KONNI can steal profiles (containing credential information) from Firefox, Chrome, and Opera.37
S0349 LaZagne LaZagne can obtain credentials from web browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox.11
G0077 Leafminer Leafminer used several tools for retrieving login and password information, including LaZagne.82
S0681 Lizar Lizar has a module to collect usernames and passwords stored in browsers.32
S0447 Lokibot Lokibot has demonstrated the ability to steal credentials from multiple applications and data sources including Safari and the Chromium and Mozilla Firefox-based web browsers.54
S0409 Machete Machete collects stored credentials from several web browsers.27
S0530 Melcoz Melcoz has the ability to steal credentials from web browsers.36
S0002 Mimikatz Mimikatz performs credential dumping to obtain account and password information useful in gaining access to additional systems and enterprise network resources. It contains functionality to acquire information about credentials in many ways, including from DPAPI.13141516
G0021 Molerats Molerats used the public tool BrowserPasswordDump10 to dump passwords saved in browsers on victims.94
G0069 MuddyWater MuddyWater has run tools including Browser64 to steal passwords saved in victim web browsers.8586
S0198 NETWIRE NETWIRE has the ability to steal credentials from web browsers including Internet Explorer, Opera, Yandex, and Chrome.181920
S0385 njRAT njRAT has a module that steals passwords saved in victim web browsers.333435
G0049 OilRig OilRig has used credential dumping tools such as LaZagne to steal credentials to accounts logged into the compromised system and to Outlook Web Access.78798081 OilRig has also used tool named PICKPOCKET to dump passwords from web browsers.81
S0138 OLDBAIT OLDBAIT collects credentials from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Eudora.52
S0365 Olympic Destroyer Olympic Destroyer contains a module that tries to obtain stored credentials from web browsers.1
G0040 Patchwork Patchwork dumped the login data database from \AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Login Data.76
S0048 PinchDuke PinchDuke steals credentials from compromised hosts. PinchDuke‘s credential stealing functionality is believed to be based on the source code of the Pinch credential stealing malware (also known as LdPinch). Credentials targeted by PinchDuke include ones associated with many sources such as Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Internet Explorer. 59
S0435 PLEAD PLEAD can harvest saved credentials from browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.5556
S0428 PoetRAT PoetRAT has used a Python tool named Browdec.exe to steal browser credentials.66
S0113 Prikormka A module in Prikormka gathers logins and passwords stored in applications on the victims, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and several other browsers.51
S0279 Proton Proton gathers credentials for Google Chrome.31
S0192 Pupy Pupy can use Lazagne for harvesting credentials.7
S0650 QakBot QakBot has collected usernames and passwords from Firefox and Chrome.25
S0262 QuasarRAT QuasarRAT can obtain passwords from common web browsers.910
S0629 RainyDay RainyDay can use tools to collect credentials from web browsers.17
S0153 RedLeaves RedLeaves can gather browser usernames and passwords.65
S0240 ROKRAT ROKRAT can steal credentials stored in Web browsers by querying the sqlite database.62
G0034 Sandworm Team Sandworm Team‘s CredRaptor tool can collect saved passwords from various internet browsers.77
S0692 SILENTTRINITY SILENTTRINITY can collect clear text web credentials for Internet Explorer/Edge.12
S0226 Smoke Loader Smoke Loader searches for credentials stored from web browsers.30
G0038 Stealth Falcon Stealth Falcon malware gathers passwords from multiple sources, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome.83
G0092 TA505 TA505 has used malware to gather credentials from Internet Explorer.89
S0266 TrickBot TrickBot can obtain passwords stored in files from web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge, sometimes using esentutl.434445
S0094 Trojan.Karagany Trojan.Karagany can steal data and credentials from browsers.61
S0436 TSCookie TSCookie has the ability to steal saved passwords from the Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, and Chrome browsers.67
S0130 Unknown Logger Unknown Logger is capable of stealing usernames and passwords from browsers on the victim machine.42
S0670 WarzoneRAT WarzoneRAT has the capability to grab passwords from numerous web browsers as well as from Outlook and Thunderbird email clients.4849
S0161 XAgentOSX XAgentOSX contains the getFirefoxPassword function to attempt to locate Firefox passwords.47
S0251 Zebrocy Zebrocy has the capability to upload dumper tools that extract credentials from web browsers and store them in database files.38
G0128 ZIRCONIUM ZIRCONIUM has used a tool to steal credentials from installed web browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.71

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1027 Password Policies Organizations may consider weighing the risk of storing credentials in web browsers. If web browser credential disclosure is a significant concern, technical controls, policy, and user training may be used to prevent storage of credentials in web browsers.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0017 Command Command Execution
DS0022 File File Access
DS0009 Process OS API Execution

References

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