| name | T1555.001_keychain |
| description | Adversaries may acquire credentials from Keychain. |
| category | authentication |
| version | 18.1 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1555.001","credential-access","macos","sub-technique"] |
| technique_id | T1555.001 |
| tactic | credential-access |
| all_tactics | ["credential-access"] |
| platforms | ["macOS"] |
| mitre_url | https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1555/001 |
| tech_stack | ["macos"] |
| cwe_ids | ["CWE-522"] |
| chains_with | ["T1555","T1555.002","T1555.003","T1555.004","T1555.005","T1555.006"] |
| prerequisites | ["T1555"] |
| severity_boost | {"T1555":"Chain with T1555 for deeper attack path","T1555.002":"Chain with T1555.002 for deeper attack path","T1555.003":"Chain with T1555.003 for deeper attack path"} |
T1555.001 Keychain
Sub-technique of: T1555
High-Level Description
Adversaries may acquire credentials from Keychain. Keychain (or Keychain Services) is the macOS credential management system that stores account names, passwords, private keys, certificates, sensitive application data, payment data, and secure notes. There are three types of Keychains: Login Keychain, System Keychain, and Local Items (iCloud) Keychain. The default Keychain is the Login Keychain, which stores user passwords and information. The System Keychain stores items accessed by the operating system, such as items shared among users on a host. The Local Items (iCloud) Keychain is used for items synced with Apple’s iCloud service.
Keychains can be viewed and edited through the Keychain Access application or using the command-line utility security. Keychain files are located in ~/Library/Keychains/, /Library/Keychains/, and /Network/Library/Keychains/.
Adversaries may gather user credentials from Keychain storage/memory. For example, the command security dump-keychain –d will dump all Login Keychain credentials from /Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db. Adversaries may also directly read Login Keychain credentials from the /Library/Keychains/login.keychain file. Both methods require a password, where the default password for the Login Keychain is the current user’s password to login to the macOS host.
Kill Chain Phase
- Credential Access (TA0006)
Platforms: macOS
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: Keychain Dump
This command will dump keychain credential information from login.keychain.
Source: https://www.loobins.io/binaries/security/
Keychain File path