MITRE ATT&CKsub-technique

T1134.003 Make and Impersonate Token

Published 2020-02-18 Modified 2026-05-12 Official page ↗
Domain
enterprise
Tactics
Stealth, Privilege Escalation
Platforms
Windows
Version
2.0
Created
2020-02-18

Description

Adversaries may make new tokens and impersonate users to escalate privileges and bypass access controls. For example, if an adversary has a username and password but the user is not logged onto the system the adversary can then create a logon session for the user using the `LogonUser` function. The function will return a copy of the new session's access token and the adversary can use `SetThreadToken` to assign the token to a thread. This behavior is distinct from Token Impersonation/Theft in that this refers to creating a new user token instead of stealing or duplicating an existing one.

Related

Subtechnique of · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

  • T1134 Access Token Manipulation technique

Tactic · MITRE ATT&CK (2)

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · mitigates (2)

  • M1018 User Account Management mitigation
  • M1026 Privileged Account Management mitigation

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · uses (5)

  • G1043 BlackByte group
  • G1016 FIN13 group
  • S1060 Mafalda software (malware)
  • S0692 SILENTTRINITY software (tool)
  • S0154 Cobalt Strike software (malware)

Referenced by CAPEC · att&ck technique (1)

  • CAPEC-196 Session Credential Falsification through Forging attack pattern

Referenced by Compliance · mitigates (9)

  • CIS-6.8 Define and Maintain Role-Based Access Control CIS Safeguard v8.1
  • NIST-AC-2 Account Management NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-AC-3 Access Enforcement NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-AC-5 Separation of Duties NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-AC-6 Least Privilege NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-CM-5 Access Restrictions for Change NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-CM-6 Configuration Settings NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-IA-13 Identity Providers and Authorization Servers NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) NIST 800-53 control

References