CAPEC-652 Use of Known Kerberos Credentials

CAPEC-652 Metadata

Likelihood of Attack

Medium

Typical Severity

High

Overview

Summary

An adversary obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate Kerberos credentials (e.g. Kerberos service account userID/password or Kerberos Tickets) with the goal of achieving authenticated access to additional systems, applications, or services within the domain.

Prerequisites

The system/application leverages Kerberos authentication. The system/application uses one factor password-based authentication, SSO, and/or cloud-based authentication for Kerberos service accounts. The system/application does not have a sound password policy that is being enforced for Kerberos service accounts. The system/application does not implement an effective password throttling mechanism for authenticating to Kerberos service accounts. The targeted network allows for network sniffing attacks to succeed.

Execution Flow

Step	Phase	Description	Techniques
1	Explore	[Acquire known Kerberos credentials] The adversary must obtain known Kerberos credentials in order to access the target system, application, or service within the domain.	An adversary purchases breached Kerberos service account username/password combinations or leaked hashed passwords from the dark web. An adversary guesses the credentials to a weak Kerberos service account. An adversary conducts a sniffing attack to steal Kerberos tickets as they are transmitted. An adversary conducts a Kerberoasting attack.
2	Experiment	[Attempt Kerberos authentication] Try each Kerberos credential against various resources within the domain until the target grants access.	Manually or automatically enter each Kerberos service account credential through the target's interface. Attempt a Pass the Ticket attack.
3	Exploit	[Impersonate] An adversary can use successful experiments or authentications to impersonate an authorized user or system, or to laterally move within the domain
4	Exploit	[Spoofing] Malicious data can be injected into the target system or into other systems on the domain. The adversary can also pose as a legitimate domain user to perform social engineering attacks.
5	Exploit	[Data Exfiltration] The adversary can obtain sensitive data contained within domain systems or applications.

Potential Solutions / Mitigations

Create a strong password policy and ensure that your system enforces this policy for Kerberos service accounts. Ensure Kerberos service accounts are not reusing username/password combinations for multiple systems, applications, or services. Do not reuse Kerberos service account credentials across systems. Deny remote use of Kerberos service account credentials to log into domain systems. Do not allow Kerberos service accounts to be a local administrator on more than one system. Enable at least AES Kerberos encryption for tickets. Monitor system and domain logs for abnormal credential access.

Related Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE ID	Description
CWE-262	Not Using Password Aging
CWE-263	Password Aging with Long Expiration
CWE-294	Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay
CWE-307	Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts
CWE-308	Use of Single-factor Authentication
CWE-309	Use of Password System for Primary Authentication
CWE-522	Insufficiently Protected Credentials
CWE-654	Reliance on a Single Factor in a Security Decision
CWE-836	Use of Password Hash Instead of Password for Authentication

Related CAPECs

CAPEC ID	Description
CAPEC-151	Identity Spoofing refers to the action of assuming (i.e., taking on) the identity of some other entity (human or non-human) and then using that identity to accomplish a goal. An adversary may craft messages that appear to come from a different principle or use stolen / spoofed authentication credentials.
CAPEC-560	An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate credentials (e.g. userID/password) to achieve authentication and to perform authorized actions under the guise of an authenticated user or service.

Taxonomy Mappings

Taxonomy: ATTACK

Entry ID	Entry Name
1558	Steal or Forge Kerberos Tickets

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