Credentials In Files
Adversaries may search local file systems and remote file shares for files containing insecurely stored credentials. These can be files created by users to store their own credentials, shared credential stores for a group of individuals, configuration files containing passwords for a system or service, or source code/binary files containing embedded passwords. It is possible to extract passwords from backups or saved virtual machines through OS Credential Dumping. Passwords may also be obtained from Group Policy Preferences stored on the Windows Domain Controller. In cloud and/or containerized environments, authenticated user and service account credentials are often stored in local configuration and credential files. They may also be found as parameters to deployment commands in container logs. In some cases, these files can be copied and reused on another machine or the contents can be read and then used to authenticate without needing to copy any files.
Open detection, hunting, mitigation, and evidence workspace
Detection logic
While detecting adversaries accessing these files may be difficult without knowing they exist in the first place, it may be possible to detect adversary use of credentials they have obtained. Monitor the command-line arguments of executing processes for suspicious words or regular expressions that may indicate searching for a password (for example: password, pwd, login, secure, or credentials). See Valid Accounts for more information.
Observed actors
Correlated CTI and IR reports
1200km CTI repository · explicit report mentionAttack Playbook — Operation DragonRx
1200km CTI repository · explicit report mentionCTI Research: Kubernetes & Cloud-Native Threat Landscape
1200km CTI repository · explicit report mentionOperation DragonRx — APT41 Full Attack Simulation
1200km CTI repository · explicit report mentionOperation DragonRx: Simulating an APT41 Attack End-to-End — From Log4Shell to DFIR and Malware Analysis
1200km CTI repository · explicit report mentionAPT41 Targeting Pharmaceutical Sector Log4Shell to Domain Compromise
1200km Medium · authored report mentionAttack Playbook Operation DragonRx
1200km Medium · authored report mentionCTI Research Kubernetes Cloud Native Threat Landscape
1200km Medium · authored report mentionOperation DragonRx Simulating an APT41 Attack End to End From Log4Shell to DFIR and Malware
1200km Medium · authored report mention