t1546-013-powershell-profile

name	T1546.013_powershell-profile
description	Adversaries may gain persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by PowerShell profiles.
category	authorization
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1546.013","privilege-escalation","persistence","windows","sub-technique"]
technique_id	T1546.013
tactic	privilege-escalation
all_tactics	["privilege-escalation","persistence"]
platforms	["Windows"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/013
tech_stack	["windows"]
cwe_ids	["CWE-269"]
chains_with	["T1546","T1546.001","T1546.002","T1546.003","T1546.004","T1546.005","T1546.006","T1546.007","T1546.008","T1546.009","T1546.010","T1546.011","T1546.012","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"}

T1546.013 PowerShell Profile

Sub-technique of: T1546

High-Level Description

Adversaries may gain persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by PowerShell profiles. A PowerShell profile (profile.ps1) is a script that runs when PowerShell starts and can be used as a logon script to customize user environments.

PowerShell supports several profiles depending on the user or host program. For example, there can be different profiles for PowerShell host programs such as the PowerShell console, PowerShell ISE or Visual Studio Code. An administrator can also configure a profile that applies to all users and host programs on the local computer.

Adversaries may modify these profiles to include arbitrary commands, functions, modules, and/or PowerShell drives to gain persistence. Every time a user opens a PowerShell session the modified script will be executed unless the -NoProfile flag is used when it is launched.

An adversary may also be able to escalate privileges if a script in a PowerShell profile is loaded and executed by an account with higher privileges, such as a domain administrator.

Kill Chain Phase

• Privilege Escalation (TA0004)
• Persistence (TA0003)

Platforms: Windows

What to Check

• Identify if PowerShell Profile technique is applicable to target environment
• Check Windows systems for indicators of PowerShell Profile
• 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: Append malicious start-process cmdlet

Appends a start process cmdlet to the current user's powershell profile pofile that points to a malicious executable. Upon execution, calc.exe will be launched.

Supported Platforms: windows

Add-Content #{ps_profile} -Value ""
Add-Content #{ps_profile} -Value "Start-Process #{exe_path}"
powershell -Command exit

Dependencies:

• Ensure a powershell profile exists for the current user