T1574.009 Path Interception by Unquoted Path
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking vulnerable file path references. Adversaries can take advantage of paths that lack surrounding quotations by placing an executable in a higher level directory within the path, so that Windows will choose the adversary’s executable to launch.
Service paths 4 and shortcut paths may also be vulnerable to path interception if the path has one or more spaces and is not surrounded by quotation marks (e.g., C:\unsafe path with space\program.exe
vs. “C:\safe path with space\program.exe”
). 3 (stored in Windows Registry keys) An adversary can place an executable in a higher level directory of the path, and Windows will resolve that executable instead of the intended executable. For example, if the path in a shortcut is C:\program files\myapp.exe
, an adversary may create a program at C:\program.exe
that will be run instead of the intended program. 2 1
This technique can be used for persistence if executables are called on a regular basis, as well as privilege escalation if intercepted executables are started by a higher privileged process.
Item | Value |
---|---|
ID | T1574.009 |
Sub-techniques | T1574.001, T1574.002, T1574.004, T1574.005, T1574.006, T1574.007, T1574.008, T1574.009, T1574.010, T1574.011, T1574.012, T1574.013 |
Tactics | TA0003, TA0004, TA0005 |
Platforms | Windows |
Version | 1.1 |
Created | 13 March 2020 |
Last Modified | 30 March 2023 |
Procedure Examples
ID | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
S0363 | Empire | Empire contains modules that can discover and exploit unquoted path vulnerabilities.16 |
S0194 | PowerSploit | PowerSploit contains a collection of Privesc-PowerUp modules that can discover and exploit unquoted path vulnerabilities.1415 |
Mitigations
ID | Mitigation | Description |
---|---|---|
M1047 | Audit | Find and eliminate path interception weaknesses in program configuration files, scripts, the PATH environment variable, services, and in shortcuts by surrounding PATH variables with quotation marks when functions allow for them. Be aware of the search order Windows uses for executing or loading binaries and use fully qualified paths wherever appropriate. |
M1038 | Execution Prevention | Adversaries will likely need to place new binaries in locations to be executed through this weakness. Identify and block potentially malicious software executed path interception by using application control tools, like Windows Defender Application Control, AppLocker, or Software Restriction Policies where appropriate.8910111213 |
M1022 | Restrict File and Directory Permissions | Ensure that proper permissions and directory access control are set to deny users the ability to write files to the top-level directory C: and system directories, such as C:\Windows\ , to reduce places where malicious files could be placed for execution. Require that all executables be placed in write-protected directories. |
Detection
ID | Data Source | Data Component |
---|---|---|
DS0022 | File | File Creation |
DS0009 | Process | Process Creation |
References
-
absolomb. (2018, January 26). Windows Privilege Escalation Guide. Retrieved August 10, 2018. ↩
-
HackHappy. (2018, April 23). Windows Privilege Escalation – Unquoted Services. Retrieved August 10, 2018. ↩
-
Mark Baggett. (2012, November 8). Help eliminate unquoted path vulnerabilities. Retrieved November 8, 2012. ↩
-
Microsoft. (2017, April 20). HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services Registry Tree. Retrieved March 16, 2020. ↩
-
Microsoft. (n.d.). CreateProcess function. Retrieved December 5, 2014. ↩
-
Microsoft. (n.d.). Dynamic-Link Library Security. Retrieved July 25, 2016. ↩
-
Kanthak, S.. (2016, July 20). Vulnerability and Exploit Detector. Retrieved February 3, 2017. ↩
-
Beechey, J.. (2014, November 18). Application Whitelisting: Panacea or Propaganda?. Retrieved November 18, 2014. ↩
-
Gorzelany, A., Hall, J., Poggemeyer, L.. (2019, January 7). Windows Defender Application Control. Retrieved July 16, 2019. ↩
-
Tomonaga, S. (2016, January 26). Windows Commands Abused by Attackers. Retrieved February 2, 2016. ↩
-
NSA Information Assurance Directorate. (2014, August). Application Whitelisting Using Microsoft AppLocker. Retrieved March 31, 2016. ↩
-
Corio, C., & Sayana, D. P.. (2008, June). Application Lockdown with Software Restriction Policies. Retrieved November 18, 2014. ↩
-
Microsoft. (2012, June 27). Using Software Restriction Policies and AppLocker Policies. Retrieved April 7, 2016. ↩
-
PowerShellMafia. (2012, May 26). PowerSploit - A PowerShell Post-Exploitation Framework. Retrieved February 6, 2018. ↩
-
PowerSploit. (n.d.). PowerSploit. Retrieved February 6, 2018. ↩
-
Schroeder, W., Warner, J., Nelson, M. (n.d.). Github PowerShellEmpire. Retrieved April 28, 2016. ↩