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Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Bypass User Account Control

ID Name
T1548.001 Setuid and Setgid
T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching
T1548.004 Elevated Execution with Prompt

Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system. Windows User Account Control (UAC) allows a program to elevate its privileges (tracked as integrity levels ranging from low to high) to perform a task under administrator-level permissions, possibly by prompting the user for confirmation. The impact to the user ranges from denying the operation under high enforcement to allowing the user to perform the action if they are in the local administrators group and click through the prompt or allowing them to enter an administrator password to complete the action.[1]

If the UAC protection level of a computer is set to anything but the highest level, certain Windows programs can elevate privileges or execute some elevated Component Object Model objects without prompting the user through the UAC notification box.[2][3] An example of this is use of Rundll32 to load a specifically crafted DLL which loads an auto-elevated Component Object Model object and performs a file operation in a protected directory which would typically require elevated access. Malicious software may also be injected into a trusted process to gain elevated privileges without prompting a user.[4]

Many methods have been discovered to bypass UAC. The Github readme page for UACME contains an extensive list of methods[5] that have been discovered and implemented, but may not be a comprehensive list of bypasses. Additional bypass methods are regularly discovered and some used in the wild, such as:

  • eventvwr.exe can auto-elevate and execute a specified binary or script.[6][7]

Another bypass is possible through some lateral movement techniques if credentials for an account with administrator privileges are known, since UAC is a single system security mechanism, and the privilege or integrity of a process running on one system will be unknown on remote systems and default to high integrity.[8]

ID: T1548.002
Sub-technique of:  T1548
ⓘ
Platforms: Windows
ⓘ
Permissions Required: Administrator, User
ⓘ
Effective Permissions: Administrator
ⓘ
Defense Bypassed: Windows User Account Control
Contributors: Casey Smith; Stefan Kanthak
Version: 2.0
Created: 30 January 2020
Last Modified: 19 April 2022

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0584 AppleJeus

AppleJeus has presented the user with a UAC prompt to elevate privileges while installing.[9]
G0016 APT29

APT29 has bypassed UAC.[10]
G0067 APT37

APT37 has a function in the initial dropper to bypass Windows UAC in order to execute the next payload with higher privileges.[11]
S0129 AutoIt backdoor

AutoIt backdoor attempts to escalate privileges by bypassing User Access Control.[12]
S0640 Avaddon

Avaddon bypasses UAC using the CMSTPLUA COM interface.[13]

S0606 Bad Rabbit

Bad Rabbit has attempted to bypass UAC and gain elevated administrative privileges.[14]
S0570 BitPaymer

BitPaymer can suppress UAC prompts by setting the HKCU\Software\Classes\ms-settings\shell\open\command registry key on Windows 10 or HKCU\Software\Classes\mscfile\shell\open\command on Windows 7 and launching the eventvwr.msc process, which launches BitPaymer with elevated privileges.[15]
S0089 BlackEnergy

BlackEnergy attempts to bypass default User Access Control (UAC) settings by exploiting a backward-compatibility setting found in Windows 7 and later.[16]
G0060 BRONZE BUTLER

BRONZE BUTLER has used a Windows 10 specific tool and xxmm to bypass UAC for privilege escalation.[17][18]
S0660 Clambling

Clambling has the ability to bypass UAC using a passuac.dll file.[19][20]
G0080 Cobalt Group

Cobalt Group has bypassed UAC.[21]
S0154 Cobalt Strike

Cobalt Strike can use a number of known techniques to bypass Windows UAC.[22][23]
S0527 CSPY Downloader

CSPY Downloader can bypass UAC using the SilentCleanup task to execute the binary with elevated privileges.[24]
S0134 Downdelph

Downdelph bypasses UAC to escalate privileges by using a custom "RedirectEXE" shim database.[25]
S0363 Empire

Empire includes various modules to attempt to bypass UAC for escalation of privileges.[26]
G0120 Evilnum

Evilnum has used PowerShell to bypass UAC.[27]
S0182 FinFisher

FinFisher performs UAC bypass.[28][29]
S0666 Gelsemium

Gelsemium can bypass UAC to elevate process privileges on a compromised host.[30]
S0531 Grandoreiro

Grandoreiro can bypass UAC by registering as the default handler for .MSC files.[31]
S0132 H1N1

H1N1 bypasses user access control by using a DLL hijacking vulnerability in the Windows Update Standalone Installer (wusa.exe).[32]
G0072 Honeybee

Honeybee uses a combination of NTWDBLIB.dll and cliconfg.exe to bypass UAC protections using DLL hijacking.[33]
S0260 InvisiMole

InvisiMole can use fileless UAC bypass and create an elevated COM object to escalate privileges.[34][35]
S0250 Koadic

Koadic has 2 methods for elevating integrity. It can bypass UAC through eventvwr.exe and sdclt.exe.[36]
S0669 KOCTOPUS

KOCTOPUS will perform UAC bypass either through fodhelper.exe or eventvwr.exe.[37]
S0356 KONNI

KONNI has bypassed UAC by performing token impersonation as well as an RPC-based method, this included bypassing UAC set to "AlwaysNotify".[38][39]
S0447 Lokibot

Lokibot has utilized multiple techniques to bypass UAC.[40]
G0069 MuddyWater

MuddyWater uses various techniques to bypass UAC.[41]
G0040 Patchwork

Patchwork bypassed User Access Control (UAC).[42]
S0501 PipeMon

PipeMon installer can use UAC bypass techniques to install the payload.[43]
S0254 PLAINTEE

An older variant of PLAINTEE performs UAC bypass.[44]
S0378 PoshC2

PoshC2 can utilize multiple methods to bypass UAC.[45]
S0192 Pupy

Pupy can bypass Windows UAC through either DLL hijacking, eventvwr, or appPaths.[46]
S0458 Ramsay

Ramsay can use UACMe for privilege escalation.[47][48]

S0662 RCSession

RCSession can bypass UAC to escalate privileges.[19]
S0332 Remcos

Remcos has a command for UAC bypassing.[49]
S0148 RTM

RTM can attempt to run the program as admin, then show a fake error message and a legitimate UAC bypass prompt to the user in an attempt to socially engineer the user into escalating privileges.[50]
S0074 Sakula

Sakula contains UAC bypass code for both 32- and 64-bit systems.[51]
S0140 Shamoon

Shamoon attempts to disable UAC remote restrictions by modifying the Registry.[52]
S0444 ShimRat

ShimRat has hijacked the cryptbase.dll within migwiz.exe to escalate privileges. This prevented the User Access Control window from appearing.[53]
S0692 SILENTTRINITY

SILENTTRINITY contains a number of modules that can bypass UAC, including through Window's Device Manager, Manage Optional Features, and an image hijack on the .msc file extension.[54]

G0027 Threat Group-3390

A Threat Group-3390 tool can use a public UAC bypass method to elevate privileges.[55]
S0116 UACMe

UACMe contains many methods for bypassing Windows User Account Control on multiple versions of the operating system.[5]
S0670 WarzoneRAT

WarzoneRAT can use sdclt.exe to bypass UAC in Windows 10 to escalate privileges; for older Windows versions WarzoneRAT can use the IFileOperation exploit to bypass the UAC module.[56][57]
S0612 WastedLocker

WastedLocker can perform a UAC bypass if it is not executed with administrator rights or if the infected host runs Windows Vista or later.[58]
S0141 Winnti for Windows

Winnti for Windows can use a variant of the sysprep UAC bypass.[59]
S0230 ZeroT

Many ZeroT samples can perform UAC bypass by using eventvwr.exe to execute a malicious file.[60]

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1047 Audit

Check for common UAC bypass weaknesses on Windows systems to be aware of the risk posture and address issues where appropriate.[5]
M1026 Privileged Account Management

Remove users from the local administrator group on systems.
M1051 Update Software

Consider updating Windows to the latest version and patch level to utilize the latest protective measures against UAC bypass.[5]
M1052 User Account Control

Although UAC bypass techniques exist, it is still prudent to use the highest enforcement level for UAC when possible and mitigate bypass opportunities that exist with techniques such as DLL Search Order Hijacking.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0017 Command Command Execution
DS0009 Process Process Creation
Process Metadata
DS0024 Windows Registry Windows Registry Key Modification

There are many ways to perform UAC bypasses when a user is in the local administrator group on a system, so it may be difficult to target detection on all variations. Efforts should likely be placed on mitigation and collecting enough information on process launches and actions that could be performed before and after a UAC bypass is performed. Monitor process API calls for behavior that may be indicative of Process Injection and unusual loaded DLLs through DLL Search Order Hijacking, which indicate attempts to gain access to higher privileged processes.

Some UAC bypass methods rely on modifying specific, user-accessible Registry settings. For example:

  • The eventvwr.exe bypass uses the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER]\Software\Classes\mscfile\shell\open\command Registry key.[6]

  • The sdclt.exe bypass uses the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER]\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\control.exe and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER]\Software\Classes\exefile\shell\runas\command\isolatedCommand Registry keys.[61][62]

Analysts should monitor these Registry settings for unauthorized changes.

References

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  6. Nelson, M. (2016, August 15). "Fileless" UAC Bypass using eventvwr.exe and Registry Hijacking. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
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  31. ESET. (2020, April 28). Grandoreiro: How engorged can an EXE get?. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
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