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T0859: Valid Accounts

View on MITRE ATT&CK The MITRE Corporation · Published 21/05/2020 19:43 · Modified 27/03/2026 01:44

Essential information

MITRE technique ID
T0859
Confidence
100/100
Revoked
No
Published
21/05/2020 19:43
Modified
27/03/2026 01:44
Author / Source
The MITRE Corporation

Description

Adversaries may steal the credentials of a specific user or service account using credential access techniques. In some cases, default credentials for control system devices may be publicly available. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on hosts and within the network, and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems. Compromised and default credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems and devices or access to restricted areas of the network. Adversaries may choose not to use malware or tools, in conjunction with the legitimate access those credentials provide, to make it harder to detect their presence or to control devices and send legitimate commands in an unintended way. Adversaries may also create accounts, sometimes using predefined account names and passwords, to provide a means of backup access for persistence. (Citation: Booz Allen Hamilton) The overlap of credentials and permissions across a network of systems is of concern because the adversary may be able to pivot across accounts and systems to reach a high level of access (i.e., domain or enterprise administrator) and possibly between the enterprise and operational technology environments. Adversaries may be able to leverage valid credentials from one system to gain access to another system.

Kill chain phases

Kill chainPhase
mitre-ics-attack lateral-movement
mitre-ics-attack persistence

Marking (TLP)

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External references