Data Manipulation: Runtime Data Manipulation

Adversaries may modify systems in order to manipulate the data as it is accessed and displayed to an end user, thus threatening the integrity of the data.[1][2] By manipulating runtime data, adversaries may attempt to affect a business process, organizational understanding, and decision making.

Adversaries may alter application binaries used to display data in order to cause runtime manipulations. Adversaries may also conduct Change Default File Association and Masquerading to cause a similar effect. The type of modification and the impact it will have depends on the target application and process as well as the goals and objectives of the adversary. For complex systems, an adversary would likely need special expertise and possibly access to specialized software related to the system that would typically be gained through a prolonged information gathering campaign in order to have the desired impact.

ID: T1565.003
Sub-technique of:  T1565
Tactic: Impact
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Permissions Required: Administrator, SYSTEM, User, root
Impact Type: Integrity
Version: 1.1
Created: 02 March 2020
Last Modified: 25 March 2022

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
G0082 APT38

APT38 has used DYEPACK.FOX to manipulate PDF data as it is accessed to remove traces of fraudulent SWIFT transactions from the data displayed to the end user.[1]

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1030 Network Segmentation

Identify critical business and system processes that may be targeted by adversaries and work to isolate and secure those systems against unauthorized access and tampering.

M1022 Restrict File and Directory Permissions

Prevent critical business and system processes from being replaced, overwritten, or reconfigured to load potentially malicious code.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0022 File File Creation
File Deletion
File Metadata
File Modification
DS0009 Process OS API Execution

Inspect important application binary file hashes, locations, and modifications for suspicious/unexpected values.

References