MITRE ATT&CKsub-technique

T1556.008 Network Provider DLL

Published 2023-03-30 Modified 2026-05-12 Official page ↗
Domain
enterprise
Tactics
Defense Impairment, Persistence, Credential Access
Platforms
Windows
Version
2.0
Created
2023-03-30

Description

Adversaries may register malicious network provider dynamic link libraries (DLLs) to capture cleartext user credentials during the authentication process. Network provider DLLs allow Windows to interface with specific network protocols and can also support add-on credential management functions. During the logon process, Winlogon (the interactive logon module) sends credentials to the local `mpnotify.exe` process via RPC. The `mpnotify.exe` process then shares the credentials in cleartext with registered credential managers when notifying that a logon event is happening. Adversaries can configure a malicious network provider DLL to receive credentials from `mpnotify.exe`. Once installed as a credential manager (via the Registry), a malicious DLL can receive and save credentials each time a user logs onto a Windows workstation or domain via the `NPLogonNotify()` function. Adversaries may target planting malicious network provider DLLs on systems known to have increased logon activity and/or administrator logon activity, such as servers and domain controllers.

Related

Subtechnique of · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

  • T1556 Modify Authentication Process technique

Tactic · MITRE ATT&CK (3)

  • TA0112 Defense Impairment tactic
  • TA0003 Persistence tactic
  • TA0006 Credential Access tactic

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · mitigates (3)

  • M1047 Audit mitigation
  • M1024 Restrict Registry Permissions mitigation
  • M1028 Operating System Configuration mitigation

Referenced by Compliance · mitigates (10)

  • CIS-6.5 Require MFA for Administrative Access CIS Safeguard v8.1
  • NIST-AC-3 Access Enforcement NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-AC-6 Least Privilege NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-CM-2 Baseline Configuration NIST 800-53 control
  • NIST-CM-3 Configuration Change Control 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-CM-7 Least Functionality 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