t1555-001-keychain

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

• Identify if Keychain technique is applicable to target environment
• Check macOS systems for indicators of Keychain
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (1 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: Keychain Dump

This command will dump keychain credential information from login.keychain. Source: https://www.loobins.io/binaries/security/

Keychain File path