COMMON ATTACK PATTERN ENUMERATION AND CLASSIFICATIONLive MITRE record

CAPEC-176

Configuration/Environment Manipulation

An attacker manipulates files or settings external to a target application which affect the behavior of that application. For example, many applications use external configuration files and libraries - modification of these entities or otherwise affecting the application's ability to use them would constitute a configuration/environment manipulation attack.

Abstraction

Meta

Typical severity

Medium

Likelihood of attack

Medium

Understand the attack

What is this attack pattern?

An attacker manipulates files or settings external to a target application which affect the behavior of that application. For example, many applications use external configuration files and libraries - modification of these entities or otherwise affecting the application's ability to use them would constitute a configuration/environment manipulation attack.

Requirements

What does the attack require?

Prerequisites

  • The target application must consult external files or configuration controls to control its execution. All but the very simplest applications meet this requirement.

Skills required

Not stated in the MITRE record.

Resources required

  • The attacker must have the access necessary to affect the files or other environment items the targeted application uses for its operations.