Disable or Remove Feature or Program
Techniques Addressed by Mitigation |
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Domain | ID | Name | Use | |
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Enterprise | T1098 | Account Manipulation |
Remove unnecessary and potentially abusable authentication and authorization mechanisms where possible. |
|
T1098.001 | Additional Cloud Credentials |
Remove unnecessary and potentially abusable authentication mechanisms where possible. For example, in Entra ID environments, disable the app password feature unless explicitly required. |
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T1098.002 | Additional Email Delegate Permissions |
If email delegation is not required, disable it. In Google Workspace this can be accomplished through the Google Admin console.(Citation: Gmail Delegation) |
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T1098.004 | SSH Authorized Keys |
Disable SSH if it is not necessary on a host or restrict SSH access for specific users/groups using |
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Enterprise | T1595 | T1595.003 | Active Scanning: Wordlist Scanning |
Remove or disable access to any systems, resources, and infrastructure that are not explicitly required to be available externally. |
Enterprise | T1557 | Adversary-in-the-Middle |
Disable legacy network protocols that may be used to intercept network traffic if applicable, especially those that are not needed within an environment. |
|
T1557.001 | LLMNR/NBT-NS Poisoning and SMB Relay |
Disable LLMNR and NetBIOS in local computer security settings or by group policy if they are not needed within an environment. (Citation: ADSecurity Windows Secure Baseline) |
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T1557.002 | ARP Cache Poisoning |
Consider disabling updating the ARP cache on gratuitous ARP replies. |
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Enterprise | T1547 | T1547.007 | Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Re-opened Applications |
This feature can be disabled entirely with the following terminal command: |
Enterprise | T1059 | Command and Scripting Interpreter |
Disable or remove any unnecessary or unused shells or interpreters. |
|
T1059.001 | PowerShell |
It may be possible to remove PowerShell from systems when not needed, but a review should be performed to assess the impact to an environment, since it could be in use for many legitimate purposes and administrative functions. Disable/restrict the WinRM Service to help prevent uses of PowerShell for remote execution. |
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T1059.005 | Visual Basic |
Turn off or restrict access to unneeded VB components. |
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T1059.007 | JavaScript |
Turn off or restrict access to unneeded scripting components. |
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Enterprise | T1092 | Communication Through Removable Media |
Disable Autoruns if it is unnecessary.(Citation: Microsoft Disable Autorun) |
|
Enterprise | T1609 | Container Administration Command |
Remove unnecessary tools and software from containers. |
|
Enterprise | T1555 | T1555.004 | Credentials from Password Stores: Windows Credential Manager |
Consider enabling the “Network access: Do not allow storage of passwords and credentials for network authentication” setting that will prevent network credentials from being stored by the Credential Manager.(Citation: Microsoft Network access Credential Manager) |
Enterprise | T1114 | T1114.003 | Email Collection: Email Forwarding Rule |
Consider disabling external email forwarding.(Citation: Microsoft BEC Campaign) |
Enterprise | T1611 | Escape to Host |
Remove unnecessary tools and software from containers. |
|
Enterprise | T1546 | T1546.002 | Event Triggered Execution: Screensaver |
Use Group Policy to disable screensavers if they are unnecessary.(Citation: TechNet Screensaver GP) |
T1546.014 | Emond |
Consider disabling emond by removing the Launch Daemon plist file. |
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Enterprise | T1011 | Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium |
Disable WiFi connection, modem, cellular data connection, Bluetooth, or another radio frequency (RF) channel in local computer security settings or by group policy if it is not needed within an environment. |
|
T1011.001 | Exfiltration Over Bluetooth |
Disable Bluetooth in local computer security settings or by group policy if it is not needed within an environment. |
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Enterprise | T1052 | Exfiltration Over Physical Medium |
Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. (Citation: Microsoft Disable Autorun) Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if they are not required for business operations. (Citation: TechNet Removable Media Control) |
|
T1052.001 | Exfiltration over USB |
Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. (Citation: Microsoft Disable Autorun) Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if they are not required for business operations. (Citation: TechNet Removable Media Control) |
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Enterprise | T1210 | Exploitation of Remote Services |
Minimize available services to only those that are necessary. |
|
Enterprise | T1133 | External Remote Services |
Disable or block remotely available services that may be unnecessary. |
|
Enterprise | T1564 | T1564.006 | Hide Artifacts: Run Virtual Instance |
Disable Hyper-V if not necessary within a given environment. |
T1564.007 | VBA Stomping |
Turn off or restrict access to unneeded VB components.(Citation: Microsoft Disable VBA Jan 2020) |
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Enterprise | T1562 | T1562.010 | Impair Defenses: Downgrade Attack |
Consider removing previous versions of tools that are unnecessary to the environment when possible. |
Enterprise | T1559 | Inter-Process Communication |
Registry keys specific to Microsoft Office feature control security can be set to disable automatic DDE/OLE execution. (Citation: Microsoft DDE Advisory Nov 2017)(Citation: BleepingComputer DDE Disabled in Word Dec 2017)(Citation: GitHub Disable DDEAUTO Oct 2017) Microsoft also created, and enabled by default, Registry keys to completely disable DDE execution in Word and Excel.(Citation: Microsoft ADV170021 Dec 2017) |
|
T1559.002 | Dynamic Data Exchange |
Registry keys specific to Microsoft Office feature control security can be set to disable automatic DDE/OLE execution. (Citation: Microsoft DDE Advisory Nov 2017)(Citation: BleepingComputer DDE Disabled in Word Dec 2017)(Citation: GitHub Disable DDEAUTO Oct 2017) Microsoft also created, and enabled by default, Registry keys to completely disable DDE execution in Word and Excel.(Citation: Microsoft ADV170021 Dec 2017) |
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Enterprise | T1046 | Network Service Discovery |
Ensure that unnecessary ports and services are closed to prevent risk of discovery and potential exploitation. |
|
Enterprise | T1137 | Office Application Startup |
Follow Office macro security best practices suitable for your environment. Disable Office VBA macros from executing. Disable Office add-ins. If they are required, follow best practices for securing them by requiring them to be signed and disabling user notification for allowing add-ins. For some add-ins types (WLL, VBA) additional mitigation is likely required as disabling add-ins in the Office Trust Center does not disable WLL nor does it prevent VBA code from executing. (Citation: MRWLabs Office Persistence Add-ins) |
|
T1137.001 | Office Template Macros |
Follow Office macro security best practices suitable for your environment. Disable Office VBA macros from executing. Disable Office add-ins. If they are required, follow best practices for securing them by requiring them to be signed and disabling user notification for allowing add-ins. For some add-ins types (WLL, VBA) additional mitigation is likely required as disabling add-ins in the Office Trust Center does not disable WLL nor does it prevent VBA code from executing. (Citation: MRWLabs Office Persistence Add-ins) |
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Enterprise | T1219 | Remote Access Software |
Consider disabling unnecessary remote connection functionality, including both unapproved software installations and specific features built into supported applications. |
|
Enterprise | T1563 | Remote Service Session Hijacking |
Disable the remote service (ex: SSH, RDP, etc.) if it is unnecessary. |
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T1563.001 | SSH Hijacking |
Ensure that agent forwarding is disabled on systems that do not explicitly require this feature to prevent misuse. (Citation: Symantec SSH and ssh-agent) |
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T1563.002 | RDP Hijacking |
Disable the RDP service if it is unnecessary. |
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Enterprise | T1021 | Remote Services |
If remote services, such as the ability to make direct connections to cloud virtual machines, are not required, disable these connection types where feasible. |
|
T1021.001 | Remote Desktop Protocol |
Disable the RDP service if it is unnecessary. |
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T1021.003 | Distributed Component Object Model |
Consider disabling DCOM through Dcomcnfg.exe.(Citation: Microsoft Disable DCOM) |
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T1021.004 | SSH |
Disable the SSH daemon on systems that do not require it. For macOS ensure Remote Login is disabled under Sharing Preferences.(Citation: Apple Unified Log Analysis Remote Login and Screen Sharing) |
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T1021.005 | VNC |
Uninstall any VNC server software where not required. |
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T1021.006 | Windows Remote Management |
Disable the WinRM service. |
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T1021.008 | Direct Cloud VM Connections |
If direct virtual machine connections are not required for administrative use, disable these connection types where feasible. |
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Enterprise | T1091 | Replication Through Removable Media |
Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. (Citation: Microsoft Disable Autorun) Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if it is not required for business operations. (Citation: TechNet Removable Media Control) |
|
Enterprise | T1505 | Server Software Component |
Consider disabling software components from servers when possible to prevent abuse by adversaries.(Citation: ITSyndicate Disabling PHP functions) |
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T1505.003 | Web Shell |
Consider disabling functions from web technologies such as PHP’s `evaI()` that may be abused for web shells.(Citation: ITSyndicate Disabling PHP functions) |
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Enterprise | T1649 | Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates |
Consider disabling old/dangerous authentication protocols (e.g. NTLM), as well as unnecessary certificate features, such as potentially vulnerable AD CS web and other enrollment server roles.(Citation: SpecterOps Certified Pre Owned) |
|
Enterprise | T1553 | T1553.005 | Subvert Trust Controls: Mark-of-the-Web Bypass |
Consider disabling auto-mounting of disk image files (i.e., .iso, .img, .vhd, and .vhdx). This can be achieved by modifying the Registry values related to the Windows Explorer file associations in order to disable the automatic Explorer "Mount and Burn" dialog for these file extensions. Note: this will not deactivate the mount functionality itself.(Citation: GitHub MOTW) |
Enterprise | T1218 | System Binary Proxy Execution |
Many native binaries may not be necessary within a given environment. |
|
T1218.003 | CMSTP |
CMSTP.exe may not be necessary within a given environment (unless using it for VPN connection installation). |
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T1218.004 | InstallUtil |
InstallUtil may not be necessary within a given environment. |
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T1218.005 | Mshta |
Mshta.exe may not be necessary within a given environment since its functionality is tied to older versions of Internet Explorer that have reached end of life. |
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T1218.007 | Msiexec |
Consider disabling the |
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T1218.008 | Odbcconf |
Odbcconf.exe may not be necessary within a given environment. |
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T1218.009 | Regsvcs/Regasm |
Regsvcs and Regasm may not be necessary within a given environment. |
||
T1218.012 | Verclsid |
Consider removing verclsid.exe if it is not necessary within a given environment. |
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T1218.013 | Mavinject |
Consider removing mavinject.exe if Microsoft App-V is not used within a given environment. |
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T1218.014 | MMC |
MMC may not be necessary within a given environment since it is primarily used by system administrators, not regular users or clients. |
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T1218.015 | Electron Applications |
Remove or deny access to unnecessary and potentially vulnerable software and features to prevent abuse by adversaries. Many native binaries may not be necessary within a given environment: for example, consider disabling the Node.js integration in all renderers that display remote content to protect users by limiting adversaries’ power to plant malicious JavaScript within Electron applications.(Citation: Electron Security 2) |
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Enterprise | T1221 | Template Injection |
Consider disabling Microsoft Office macros/active content to prevent the execution of malicious payloads in documents (Citation: Microsoft Disable Macros), though this setting may not mitigate the Forced Authentication use for this technique. |
|
Enterprise | T1205 | Traffic Signaling |
Disable Wake-on-LAN if it is not needed within an environment. |
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Enterprise | T1127 | Trusted Developer Utilities Proxy Execution |
Specific developer utilities may not be necessary within a given environment and should be removed if not used. |
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T1127.001 | MSBuild |
MSBuild.exe may not be necessary within an environment and should be removed if not being used. |
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T1127.002 | ClickOnce |
Disable ClickOnce installations from the internet using the following registry key: `\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\Security\TrustManager\PromptingLevel — Internet:Disabled`(Citation: NetSPI ClickOnce)(Citation: Microsoft Learn ClickOnce Config) ClickOnce may not be necessary within an environment and should be disabled if not being used. |
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Enterprise | T1552 | T1552.005 | Unsecured Credentials: Cloud Instance Metadata API |
Disable unnecessary metadata services and restrict or disable insecure versions of metadata services that are in use to prevent adversary access.(Citation: Amazon AWS IMDS V2) |
References
- Sarah Edwards. (2020, April 30). Analysis of Apple Unified Logs: Quarantine Edition [Entry 6] – Working From Home? Remote Logins. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
- Microsoft. (2017, November 8). Microsoft Security Advisory 4053440 - Securely opening Microsoft Office documents that contain Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) fields. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
- Cimpanu, C. (2017, December 15). Microsoft Disables DDE Feature in Word to Prevent Further Malware Attacks. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
- Dormann, W. (2017, October 20). Disable DDEAUTO for Outlook, Word, OneNote, and Excel versions 2010, 2013, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
- Microsoft. (2017, December 12). ADV170021 - Microsoft Office Defense in Depth Update. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
- Metcalf, S. (2016, October 21). Securing Windows Workstations: Developing a Secure Baseline. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- Stack Overflow. (n.d.). Why do I see an "Electron Security Warning" after updating my Electron project to the latest version?. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- Microsoft. (2023, August 4). Configure the ClickOnce trust prompt behavior. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
- Ryan Gandrud. (2015, March 23). All You Need Is One – A ClickOnce Love Story. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
- Schroeder, W. & Christensen, L. (2021, June 22). Certified Pre-Owned - Abusing Active Directory Certificate Services. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
- Carr, N., Sellmer, S. (2021, June 14). Behind the scenes of business email compromise: Using cross-domain threat data to disrupt a large BEC campaign. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
- Microsoft. (n.d.). How to disable the Autorun functionality in Windows. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- Microsoft. (2007, August 31). https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771759(v=ws.10).aspx. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- wdormann. (2019, August 29). Disable Windows Explorer file associations for Disc Image Mount. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- Kondratiev, A. (n.d.). Disabling dangerous PHP functions. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
- Knowles, W. (2017, April 21). Add-In Opportunities for Office Persistence. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Customizing the Desktop. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Enable or Disable DCOM. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- Microsoft. (2016, August 31). Network access: Do not allow storage of passwords and credentials for network authentication. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
- Hatch, B. (2004, November 22). SSH and ssh-agent. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- Microsoft. (2018, May 31). AlwaysInstallElevated. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- Microsoft. (2020, January 23). How to turn off Visual Basic for Applications when you deploy Office. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- MacCarthaigh, C. (2019, November 19). Add defense in depth against open firewalls, reverse proxies, and SSRF vulnerabilities with enhancements to the EC2 Instance Metadata Service. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Enable or disable macros in Office files. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- Google. (n.d.). Turn Gmail delegation on or off. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
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