| ID | Name |
|---|---|
| T1003.001 | LSASS Memory |
| T1003.002 | Security Account Manager |
| T1003.003 | NTDS |
| T1003.004 | LSA Secrets |
| T1003.005 | Cached Domain Credentials |
| T1003.006 | DCSync |
| T1003.007 | Proc Filesystem |
| T1003.008 | /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow |
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.[1]
On Windows Vista and newer, the hash format is DCC2 (Domain Cached Credentials version 2) hash, also known as MS-Cache v2 hash.[2] The number of default cached credentials varies and can be altered per system. This hash does not allow pass-the-hash style attacks, and instead requiresPassword Cracking to recover the plaintext password.[3]
On Linux systems, Active Directory credentials can be accessed through caches maintained by software like System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) or Quest Authentication Services (formerly VAS). Cached credential hashes are typically located at/var/lib/sss/db/cache.[domain].ldb for SSSD or/var/opt/quest/vas/authcache/vas_auth.vdb for Quest. Adversaries can use utilities, such astdbdump, on these database files to dump the cached hashes and usePassword Cracking to obtain the plaintext password.[4]
With SYSTEM or sudo access, the tools/utilities such asMimikatz,Reg, and secretsdump.py for Windows or Linikatz for Linux can be used to extract the cached credentials.[4]
Note: Cached credentials for Windows Vista are derived using PBKDF2.[2]
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| G0064 | APT33 | APT33 has used a variety of publicly available tools likeLaZagne to gather credentials.[5][6] |
| S0119 | Cachedump | Cachedump can extract cached password hashes from cache entry information.[7] |
| S0349 | LaZagne | LaZagne can perform credential dumping from MSCache to obtain account and password information.[8] |
| G0077 | Leafminer | Leafminer used several tools for retrieving login and password information, including LaZagne.[9] |
| G0069 | MuddyWater | MuddyWater has performed credential dumping withLaZagne.[10][11] |
| G0049 | OilRig | OilRig has used credential dumping tools such asLaZagne to steal credentials to accounts logged into the compromised system and to Outlook Web Access.[12][13][14][15] |
| S0439 | Okrum | Okrum was seen using modified Quarks PwDump to perform credential dumping.[16] |
| S0192 | Pupy |
| ID | Mitigation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M1015 | Active Directory Configuration | Consider adding users to the "Protected Users" Active Directory security group. This can help limit the caching of users' plaintext credentials.[18] |
| M1028 | Operating System Configuration | Consider limiting the number of cached credentials (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon\cachedlogonscountvalue)[19] |
| M1027 | Password Policies | Ensure that local administrator accounts have complex, unique passwords across all systems on the network. |
| M1026 | Privileged Account Management | Do not put user or admin domain accounts in the local administrator groups across systems unless they are tightly controlled, as this is often equivalent to having a local administrator account with the same password on all systems. Follow best practices for design and administration of an enterprise network to limit privileged account use across administrative tiers. |
| M1017 | User Training | Limit credential overlap across accounts and systems by training users and administrators not to use the same password for multiple accounts. |
| ID | Name | Analytic ID | Analytic Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| DET0513 | Detection of Cached Domain Credential Dumping via Local Hash Cache Access | AN1417 | Detects adversary behavior accessing Windows cached domain credential files using tools like Mimikatz, reg.exe, or PowerShell, often combined with registry exports or LSASS memory scraping. |
| AN1418 | Detects access to SSSD or Quest VAS cached credential databases using tdbdump or other file access patterns, requiring sudo/root access. |