t1552-006-group-policy-preferences

name	T1552.006_group-policy-preferences
description	Adversaries may attempt to find unsecured credentials in Group Policy Preferences (GPP).
category	authentication
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1552.006","credential-access","windows","sub-technique"]
technique_id	T1552.006
tactic	credential-access
all_tactics	["credential-access"]
platforms	["Windows"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1552/006
tech_stack	["windows"]
cwe_ids	["CWE-522"]
chains_with	["T1552","T1552.001","T1552.002","T1552.003","T1552.004","T1552.005","T1552.007","T1552.008"]
prerequisites	["T1552"]
severity_boost	{"T1552":"Chain with T1552 for deeper attack path","T1552.001":"Chain with T1552.001 for deeper attack path","T1552.002":"Chain with T1552.002 for deeper attack path"}

T1552.006 Group Policy Preferences

Sub-technique of: T1552

High-Level Description

Adversaries may attempt to find unsecured credentials in Group Policy Preferences (GPP). GPP are tools that allow administrators to create domain policies with embedded credentials. These policies allow administrators to set local accounts.

These group policies are stored in SYSVOL on a domain controller. This means that any domain user can view the SYSVOL share and decrypt the password (using the AES key that has been made public).

The following tools and scripts can be used to gather and decrypt the password file from Group Policy Preference XML files:

• Metasploit’s post exploitation module: post/windows/gather/credentials/gpp
• Get-GPPPassword
• gpprefdecrypt.py

On the SYSVOL share, adversaries may use the following command to enumerate potential GPP XML files: dir /s * .xml

Kill Chain Phase

• Credential Access (TA0006)

Platforms: Windows

What to Check

• Identify if Group Policy Preferences technique is applicable to target environment
• Check Windows systems for indicators of Group Policy Preferences
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (3 known mitigations)
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Atomic Red Team Tests

The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:

Atomic Test 1: GPP Passwords (findstr)

Look for the encrypted cpassword value within Group Policy Preference files on the Domain Controller. This value can be decrypted with gpp-decrypt on Kali Linux.

Supported Platforms: windows

findstr /S cpassword %logonserver%\sysvol\*.xml

Dependencies:

• Computer must be domain joined

Atomic Test 2: GPP Passwords (Get-GPPPassword)

Look for the encrypted cpassword value within Group Policy Preference files on the Domain Controller. This test is intended to be run from a domain joined workstation, not on the Domain Controller itself. The Get-GPPPasswords.ps1 executed during this test can be obtained using the get-prereq_commands.