| name | T1546.003_windows-management-instrumentation-event-subscription |
| description | Adversaries may establish persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) event subscription. |
| category | authorization |
| version | 18.1 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1546.003","privilege-escalation","persistence","windows","sub-technique"] |
| technique_id | T1546.003 |
| tactic | privilege-escalation |
| all_tactics | ["privilege-escalation","persistence"] |
| platforms | ["Windows"] |
| mitre_url | https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/003 |
| tech_stack | ["windows"] |
| cwe_ids | ["CWE-269"] |
| chains_with | ["T1546","T1546.001","T1546.002","T1546.004","T1546.005","T1546.006","T1546.007","T1546.008","T1546.009","T1546.010","T1546.011","T1546.012","T1546.013","T1546.014","T1546.015","T1546.016","T1546.017","T1546.018"] |
| prerequisites | ["T1546"] |
| severity_boost | {"T1546":"Chain with T1546 for deeper attack path","T1546.001":"Chain with T1546.001 for deeper attack path","T1546.002":"Chain with T1546.002 for deeper attack path"} |
T1546.003 Windows Management Instrumentation Event Subscription
Sub-technique of: T1546
High-Level Description
Adversaries may establish persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) event subscription. WMI can be used to install event filters, providers, consumers, and bindings that execute code when a defined event occurs. Examples of events that may be subscribed to are the wall clock time, user login, or the computer's uptime.
Adversaries may use the capabilities of WMI to subscribe to an event and execute arbitrary code when that event occurs, providing persistence on a system. Adversaries may also compile WMI scripts – using mofcomp.exe –into Windows Management Object (MOF) files (.mof extension) that can be used to create a malicious subscription.
WMI subscription execution is proxied by the WMI Provider Host process (WmiPrvSe.exe) and thus may result in elevated SYSTEM privileges.
Kill Chain Phase
- Privilege Escalation (TA0004)
- Persistence (TA0003)
Platforms: Windows
What to Check
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: Persistence via WMI Event Subscription - CommandLineEventConsumer
Run from an administrator powershell window. After running, reboot the victim machine.
After it has been online for 4 minutes you should see notepad.exe running as SYSTEM.
Code references
https://gist.github.com/mattifestation/7fe1df7ca2f08cbfa3d067def00c01af
https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire/blob/master/data/module_source/persistence/Persistence.psm1#L545
Supported Platforms: windows
Yes
