216.73.217.22

T1588.003: Code Signing Certificates

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
T1588.003
Confidence
100/100
Revoked
No
Published
16/12/2025 19:38
Modified
27/03/2026 01:12
Author / Source
The MITRE Corporation

Aliases

T1588.003

Platforms

PRE

Description

Adversaries may buy and/or steal code signing certificates that can be used during targeting. Code signing is the process of digitally signing executables and scripts to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted. Code signing provides a level of authenticity for a program from the developer and a guarantee that the program has not been tampered with.(Citation: Wikipedia Code Signing) Users and/or security tools may trust a signed piece of code more than an unsigned piece of code even if they don't know who issued the certificate or who the author is. Prior to [Code Signing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1553/002), adversaries may purchase or steal code signing certificates for use in operations. The purchase of code signing certificates may be done using a front organization or using information stolen from a previously compromised entity that allows the adversary to validate to a certificate provider as that entity. Adversaries may also steal code signing materials directly from a compromised third-party.

Kill chain phases

Kill chainPhase
mitre-attack resource-development

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