| name | T1055.002_portable-executable-injection |
| description | Adversaries may inject portable executables (PE) into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges. |
| category | configuration |
| version | 18.1 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1055.002","defense-evasion","privilege-escalation","windows","sub-technique"] |
| technique_id | T1055.002 |
| tactic | defense-evasion |
| all_tactics | ["defense-evasion","privilege-escalation"] |
| platforms | ["Windows"] |
| mitre_url | https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/002 |
| tech_stack | ["windows"] |
| cwe_ids | ["CWE-693"] |
| chains_with | ["T1055","T1055.001","T1055.003","T1055.004","T1055.005","T1055.008","T1055.009","T1055.011","T1055.012","T1055.013","T1055.014","T1055.015"] |
| prerequisites | ["T1055"] |
| severity_boost | {"T1055":"Chain with T1055 for deeper attack path","T1055.001":"Chain with T1055.001 for deeper attack path","T1055.003":"Chain with T1055.003 for deeper attack path"} |
T1055.002 Portable Executable Injection
Sub-technique of: T1055
High-Level Description
Adversaries may inject portable executables (PE) into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges. PE injection is a method of executing arbitrary code in the address space of a separate live process.
PE injection is commonly performed by copying code (perhaps without a file on disk) into the virtual address space of the target process before invoking it via a new thread. The write can be performed with native Windows API calls such as VirtualAllocEx and WriteProcessMemory, then invoked with CreateRemoteThread or additional code (ex: shellcode). The displacement of the injected code does introduce the additional requirement for functionality to remap memory references.
Running code in the context of another process may allow access to the process's memory, system/network resources, and possibly elevated privileges. Execution via PE injection may also evade detection from security products since the execution is masked under a legitimate process.
Kill Chain Phase
- Defense Evasion (TA0005)
- Privilege Escalation (TA0004)
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: Portable Executable Injection
This test injects a portable executable into a remote Notepad process memory using Portable Executable Injection and base-address relocation techniques. When successful, a message box will appear with the title "Warning" and the content "Atomic Red Team" after a few seconds.
Supported Platforms: windows
Elevation Required: Yes
Start-Process "#{exe_binary}"
Start-Sleep -Seconds 7
Get-Process -Name Notepad -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Stop-Process -Force
