T1201: T1201
Essential information
- MITRE technique ID
T1201- Confidence
- 100/100
- Revoked
- No
- Published
- 16/12/2025 19:38
- Modified
- 20/04/2026 13:22
- Author / Source
- The MITRE Corporation
Aliases
Password Policy Discovery
Platforms
windows macos linux Network Devices IaaS Office Suite Identity Provider SaaS
Description
Adversaries may attempt to access detailed information about the password policy used within an enterprise network or cloud environment. Password policies are a way to enforce complex passwords that are difficult to guess or crack through [Brute Force](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110). This information may help the adversary to create a list of common passwords and launch dictionary and/or brute force attacks which adheres to the policy (e.g. if the minimum password length should be 8, then not trying passwords such as 'pass123'; not checking for more than 3-4 passwords per account if the lockout is set to 6 as to not lock out accounts).
Password policies can be set and discovered on Windows, Linux, and macOS systems via various command shell utilities such as `net accounts (/domain)`, `Get-ADDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy`, `chage -l <username>`, `cat /etc/pam.d/common-password`, and `pwpolicy getaccountpolicies` (Citation: Superuser Linux Password Policies) (Citation: Jamf User Password Policies). Adversaries may also leverage a [Network Device CLI](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/008) on network devices to discover password policy information (e.g. `show aaa`, `show aaa common-criteria policy all`).(Citation: US-CERT-TA18-106A)
Password policies can be discovered in cloud environments using available APIs such as `GetAccountPasswordPolicy` in AWS (Citation: AWS GetPasswordPolicy).
Kill chain phases
| Kill chain | Phase |
|---|---|
| mitre-attack | discovery |
Marking (TLP)
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