Executive Summary
OS Credential Dumping (T1003) is a MITRE ATT&CK technique associated with Credential Access. Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
Why Attackers Use It
Attackers use OS Credential Dumping because it provides a reliable way to advance their objective within the Credential Access tactic, often with a favorable balance of impact versus detectability on Linux, macOS, Windows environments. Defenders should assess this behavior in the context of the affected platform and adjacent activity rather than treating it as a standalone indicator.
MITRE Description
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password. Credentials can be obtained from OS caches, memory, or structures.(Citation: Brining MimiKatz to Unix) Credentials can then be used to perform Lateral Movement and access restricted information.
Several of the tools mentioned in associated sub-techniques may be used by both adversaries and professional security testers. Additional custom tools likely exist as well.
Attack Flow
- Attacker gains the prerequisite access or context described below.
- Attacker executes OS Credential Dumping to achieve its tactical objective (Credential Access).
- Resulting access/data/effect is leveraged to advance the broader attack chain (see Related Techniques).
Prerequisites
- Platform(s): Linux, macOS, Windows
- ATT&CK does not define one universal permission requirement for this technique. Establish the required access from the observed implementation and affected platform.
Common Tools
- Tool attribution is implementation-specific. Use ATT&CK procedure examples and local telemetry to identify the binaries, services, scripts, accounts, or cloud resources involved.
Commands
No universal command represents OS Credential Dumping. Capture the exact command line, arguments, parent process, account, host, and execution time from the investigated environment; do not operationalize unverified examples.
Network Traffic
- Network observability is implementation-dependent. Review DNS, proxy, firewall, flow, authentication, and packet telemetry around the activity window, then correlate remote endpoints and protocol behavior with host evidence.
Windows Events
| Event ID | Log Channel | What It Indicates |
|---|
| Environment-specific | Relevant Windows channel(s) | Correlate authentication, process, object-access, and configuration events with the observed execution context. |
Sysmon Events
| Sysmon Event ID | Name | Why It's Relevant Here |
|---|
| Environment-specific | Validate configured telemetry | Use process, network, file, registry, DNS, or image-load telemetry only when relevant and enabled. |
Detection Opportunities
No MITRE detection guidance published for this technique.
Relevant ATT&CK Data Sources: N/A
Sigma Rules
A universal Sigma rule would create unreliable results because this technique has no single guaranteed observable. Build detection logic from a documented behavior and supported data source, scope it to the affected platform, and validate it against benign administrative activity before deployment.
Splunk Queries
Start with the data sources named in the detection section. Scope searches by asset, identity, and time window; correlate the primary behavior with preceding access and subsequent actions. A portable query is intentionally not provided where the technique lacks a universal schema or observable.
Investigation Workflow
- Confirm that the observed behavior is consistent with OS Credential Dumping and rule out expected administrative or application activity.
- Establish the first-seen time, initiating identity, source system, target system, and affected resources.
- Collect relevant host, identity, network, cloud, and application telemetry for the surrounding time window.
- Correlate parent and child activity, remote connections, file or configuration changes, and related ATT&CK techniques.
- Determine scope by searching for the same observable across peer assets and identities.
- Preserve volatile evidence and record confidence, assumptions, and telemetry gaps before containment.
Containment
- Isolate affected host(s)/account(s) identified during investigation.
- Revoke or rotate any credentials/tokens potentially exposed.
- Apply the mitigations listed below where not already enforced.
- Validate no related techniques (see Related Techniques) were chained against the same asset.
Mitigation
- M1041 -- Encrypt Sensitive Information: Protect sensitive information at rest, in transit, and during processing by using strong encryption algorithms.
- M1040 -- Behavior Prevention on Endpoint: Behavior Prevention on Endpoint refers to the use of technologies and strategies to detect and block potentially malicious activities by analyzing the behavior of processes, files, API calls, and other endpoint events.
- M1027 -- Password Policies: Set and enforce secure password policies for accounts to reduce the likelihood of unauthorized access.
- M1017 -- User Training: User Training involves educating employees and contractors on recognizing, reporting, and preventing cyber threats that rely on human interaction, such as phishing, social engineering, and other manipulative techniques.
- M1026 -- Privileged Account Management: Privileged Account Management focuses on implementing policies, controls, and tools to securely manage privileged accounts (e.g., SYSTEM, root, or administrative accounts).
- M1025 -- Privileged Process Integrity: Privileged Process Integrity focuses on defending highly privileged processes (e.g., system services, antivirus, or authentication processes) from tampering, injection, or compromise by adversaries.
- M1043 -- Credential Access Protection: Credential Access Protection focuses on implementing measures to prevent adversaries from obtaining credentials, such as passwords, hashes, tokens, or keys, that could be used for unauthorized access.
- M1015 -- Active Directory Configuration: Implement robust Active Directory (AD) configurations using group policies to secure user accounts, control access, and minimize the attack surface.
- M1028 -- Operating System Configuration: Operating System Configuration involves adjusting system settings and hardening the default configurations of an operating system (OS) to mitigate adversary exploitation and prevent abuse of system functionality.
Related Techniques
- T1003.001
- T1003.002
- T1003.003
- T1003.004
- T1003.005
- T1003.006
- T1003.007
- T1003.008
- T1005
- T1021.001
- T1033
- T1056.001
- T1057
- T1059.003
- T1071.001
- T1082