t1547-008-lsass-driver

name	T1547.008_lsass-driver
description	Adversaries may modify or add LSASS drivers to obtain persistence on compromised systems.
category	configuration
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1547.008","persistence","privilege-escalation","windows","sub-technique"]
technique_id	T1547.008
tactic	persistence
all_tactics	["persistence","privilege-escalation"]
platforms	["Windows"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/008
tech_stack	["windows"]
cwe_ids	["CWE-276"]
chains_with	["T1547","T1547.001","T1547.002","T1547.003","T1547.004","T1547.005","T1547.006","T1547.007","T1547.009","T1547.010","T1547.012","T1547.013","T1547.014","T1547.015"]
prerequisites	["T1547"]
severity_boost	{"T1547":"Chain with T1547 for deeper attack path","T1547.001":"Chain with T1547.001 for deeper attack path","T1547.002":"Chain with T1547.002 for deeper attack path"}

T1547.008 LSASS Driver

Sub-technique of: T1547

High-Level Description

Adversaries may modify or add LSASS drivers to obtain persistence on compromised systems. The Windows security subsystem is a set of components that manage and enforce the security policy for a computer or domain. The Local Security Authority (LSA) is the main component responsible for local security policy and user authentication. The LSA includes multiple dynamic link libraries (DLLs) associated with various other security functions, all of which run in the context of the LSA Subsystem Service (LSASS) lsass.exe process.

Adversaries may target LSASS drivers to obtain persistence. By either replacing or adding illegitimate drivers (e.g., Hijack Execution Flow), an adversary can use LSA operations to continuously execute malicious payloads.

Kill Chain Phase

• Persistence (TA0003)
• Privilege Escalation (TA0004)

Platforms: Windows

What to Check

• Identify if LSASS Driver technique is applicable to target environment
• Check Windows systems for indicators of LSASS Driver
• 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: Modify Registry to load Arbitrary DLL into LSASS - LsaDbExtPt

The following Atomic will modify an undocumented registry key that may be abused to load a arbitrary DLL into LSASS.

Upon execution, the registry key will be modified and a value will contain the path to the DLL. Reference: https://blog.xpnsec.com/exploring-mimikatz-part-1/ and source https://github.com/oxfemale/LogonCredentialsSteal Note that if any LSA based protection is enabled, this will most likely not be successful with LSASS.exe loading the DLL.

Supported Platforms: windows Elevation Required: Yes

New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS -Name LsaDbExtPt -Value "#{dll_path}"

Dependencies: