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T1124: T1124

View on MITRE ATT&CK The MITRE Corporation · Published 16/12/2025 19:38 · Modified 27/03/2026 01:12

Essential information

MITRE technique ID
T1124
Confidence
100/100
Revoked
No
Published
16/12/2025 19:38
Modified
27/03/2026 01:12
Author / Source
The MITRE Corporation

Aliases

System Time Discovery

Platforms

windows macos linux Network Devices ESXi

Description

An adversary may gather the system time and/or time zone settings from a local or remote system. The system time is set and stored by services, such as the Windows Time Service on Windows or `systemsetup` on macOS.(Citation: MSDN System Time)(Citation: Technet Windows Time Service)(Citation: systemsetup mac time) These time settings may also be synchronized between systems and services in an enterprise network, typically accomplished with a network time server within a domain.(Citation: Mac Time Sync)(Citation: linux system time) System time information may be gathered in a number of ways, such as with [Net](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0039) on Windows by performing `net time \\hostname` to gather the system time on a remote system. The victim's time zone may also be inferred from the current system time or gathered by using `w32tm /tz`.(Citation: Technet Windows Time Service) In addition, adversaries can discover device uptime through functions such as `GetTickCount()` to determine how long it has been since the system booted up.(Citation: Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion) On network devices, [Network Device CLI](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/008) commands such as `show clock detail` can be used to see the current time configuration.(Citation: show_clock_detail_cisco_cmd) On ESXi servers, `esxcli system clock get` can be used for the same purpose. In addition, system calls – such as `time()` – have been used to collect the current time on Linux devices.(Citation: MAGNET GOBLIN) On macOS systems, adversaries may use commands such as `systemsetup -gettimezone` or `timeIntervalSinceNow` to gather current time zone information or current date and time.(Citation: System Information Discovery Technique)(Citation: ESET DazzleSpy Jan 2022) This information could be useful for performing other techniques, such as executing a file with a [Scheduled Task/Job](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053)(Citation: RSA EU12 They're Inside), or to discover locality information based on time zone to assist in victim targeting (i.e. [System Location Discovery](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1614)). Adversaries may also use knowledge of system time as part of a time bomb, or delaying execution until a specified date/time.(Citation: AnyRun TimeBomb)

Kill chain phases

Kill chainPhase
mitre-attack discovery

Marking (TLP)

TLP:CLEAR Copyright 2015-2025, The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK and ATT&CK are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation.

External references