Modification of Windows Service Configuration

An adversary exploits a weakness in access control to modify the execution parameters of a Windows service. The goal of this attack is to execute a malicious binary in place of an existing service.

Abstraction

Detailed

Typical severity

High

Likelihood of attack

Low

Understand the attack

What is this attack pattern?

An adversary exploits a weakness in access control to modify the execution parameters of a Windows service. The goal of this attack is to execute a malicious binary in place of an existing service.

Execution flow

How does the attack proceed, step by step?

Explore

Determine target system

The adversary must first determine the system they wish to modify the registry of. This needs to be a windows machine as this attack only works on the windows registry.

Experiment

Gain access to the system

The adversary needs to gain access to the system in some way so that they can modify the windows registry.

Techniques used

Gain physical access to a system either through shoulder surfing a password or accessing a system that is left unlocked.
Gain remote access to a system through a variety of means.

Exploit

Modify windows registry

The adversary will modify the windows registry by changing the configuration settings for a service. Specifically, the adversary will change the path settings to define a path to a malicious binary to be executed.

Requirements

What does the attack require?

Prerequisites

The adversary must have the capability to write to the Windows Registry on the targeted system.

Skills required

Not stated in the MITRE record.

Resources required

None: No specialized resources are required to execute this type of attack.

Impact

What does a successful attack lead to?

Execute Unauthorized Commands

Affected scopes: Integrity

Defence

How is it prevented and mitigated?

Ensure proper permissions are set for Registry hives to prevent users from modifying keys for system components that may lead to privilege escalation.