Lateral Tool Transfer
Adversaries may transfer tools or other files between systems in a compromised environment. Once brought into the victim environment (i.e. Ingress Tool Transfer) files may then be copied from one system to another to stage adversary tools or other files over the course of an operation. Adversaries may copy files between internal victim systems to support lateral movement using inherent file sharing protocols such as file sharing over SMB/Windows Admin Shares to connected network shares or with authenticated connections via Remote Desktop Protocol.(Citation: Unit42 LockerGoga 2019) Files can also be transferred using native or otherwise present tools on the victim system, such as scp, rsync, curl, sftp, and ftp.
Procedure Examples |
|
Name | Description |
---|---|
APT32 |
APT32 has deployed tools after moving laterally using administrative accounts.(Citation: Cybereason Cobalt Kitty 2017) |
Aoqin Dragon |
Aoqin Dragon has spread malware in target networks by copying modules to folders masquerading as removable devices.(Citation: SentinelOne Aoqin Dragon June 2022) |
Netwalker |
Operators deploying Netwalker have used psexec to copy the Netwalker payload across accessible systems.(Citation: Sophos Netwalker May 2020) |
BITSAdmin |
BITSAdmin can be used to create BITS Jobs to upload and/or download files from SMB file servers.(Citation: Microsoft About BITS) |
FIN10 |
FIN10 has deployed Meterpreter stagers and SplinterRAT instances in the victim network after moving laterally.(Citation: FireEye FIN10 June 2017) |
ftp |
ftp may be abused by adversaries to transfer tools or files between systems within a compromised environment.(Citation: Microsoft FTP)(Citation: Linux FTP) |
esentutl |
esentutl can be used to copy files to/from a remote share.(Citation: LOLBAS Esentutl) |
Lucifer |
Lucifer can use certutil for propagation on Windows hosts within intranets.(Citation: Unit 42 Lucifer June 2020) |
Wizard Spider |
Wizard Spider has used stolen credentials to copy tools into the |
Turla |
Turla RPC backdoors can be used to transfer files to/from victim machines on the local network.(Citation: ESET Turla PowerShell May 2019)(Citation: Symantec Waterbug Jun 2019) |
Expand |
Expand can be used to download or upload a file over a network share.(Citation: LOLBAS Expand) |
Chimera |
Chimera has copied tools between compromised hosts using SMB.(Citation: NCC Group Chimera January 2021) |
Olympic Destroyer |
Olympic Destroyer attempts to copy itself to remote machines on the network.(Citation: Talos Olympic Destroyer 2018) |
During Operation Wocao, threat actors used SMB to copy files to and from target systems.(Citation: FoxIT Wocao December 2019) |
|
GALLIUM |
GALLIUM has used PsExec to move laterally between hosts in the target network.(Citation: Microsoft GALLIUM December 2019) |
Shamoon |
Shamoon attempts to copy itself to remote machines on the network.(Citation: Palo Alto Shamoon Nov 2016) |
Operation Wocao |
Operation Wocao has used SMB to copy files to and from target systems.(Citation: FoxIT Wocao December 2019) |
PsExec |
PsExec can be used to download or upload a file over a network share.(Citation: PsExec Russinovich) |
HermeticWizard |
HermeticWizard can copy files to other machines on a compromised network.(Citation: ESET Hermetic Wizard March 2022) |
DustySky |
DustySky searches for network drives and removable media and duplicates itself onto them.(Citation: DustySky) |
Sandworm Team |
Sandworm Team has used `move` to transfer files to a network share.(Citation: Dragos Crashoverride 2018) |
Kerrdown |
Kerrdown can download additional software including Cobalt Strike from servers on the victim's network.(Citation: Amnesty Intl. Ocean Lotus February 2021) |
LockerGoga |
LockerGoga has been observed moving around the victim network via SMB, indicating the actors behind this ransomware are manually copying files form computer to computer instead of self-propagating.(Citation: Unit42 LockerGoga 2019) |
Stuxnet |
Stuxnet uses an RPC server that contains a file dropping routine and support for payload version updates for P2P communications within a victim network.(Citation: Symantec W.32 Stuxnet Dossier) |
During C0015, the threat actors used WMI to load Cobalt Strike onto additional hosts within a compromised network.(Citation: DFIR Conti Bazar Nov 2021) |
|
cmd |
cmd can be used to copy files to/from a remotely connected internal system.(Citation: TechNet Copy) |
WannaCry |
WannaCry attempts to copy itself to remote computers after gaining access via an SMB exploit.(Citation: LogRhythm WannaCry) |
Mitigations |
|
Mitigation | Description |
---|---|
Filter Network Traffic |
Use network appliances to filter ingress or egress traffic and perform protocol-based filtering. Configure software on endpoints to filter network traffic. |
Network Intrusion Prevention |
Use intrusion detection signatures to block traffic at network boundaries. |
Detection
Monitor for file creation and files transferred within a network using protocols such as SMB or FTP. Unusual processes with internal network connections creating files on-system may be suspicious. Consider monitoring for abnormal usage of utilities and command-line arguments that may be used in support of remote transfer of files. Considering monitoring for alike file hashes or characteristics (ex: filename) that are created on multiple hosts.
References
- Dantzig, M. v., Schamper, E. (2019, December 19). Operation Wocao: Shining a light on one of China’s hidden hacking groups. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
- Amnesty International. (2021, February 24). Vietnamese activists targeted by notorious hacking group. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- Harbison, M. (2019, March 26). Born This Way? Origins of LockerGoga. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- Dahan, A. (2017). Operation Cobalt Kitty. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- Jansen, W . (2021, January 12). Abusing cloud services to fly under the radar. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- Microsoft. (2020, March 10). Preventing SMB traffic from lateral connections and entering or leaving the network. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
- Szappanos, G., Brandt, A.. (2020, May 27). Netwalker ransomware tools give insight into threat actor. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- LOLBAS. (n.d.). Expand.exe. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
- Hsu, K. et al. (2020, June 24). Lucifer: New Cryptojacking and DDoS Hybrid Malware Exploiting High and Critical Vulnerabilities to Infect Windows Devices. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
- Mercer, W. and Rascagneres, P. (2018, February 12). Olympic Destroyer Takes Aim At Winter Olympics. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
- Falcone, R.. (2016, November 30). Shamoon 2: Return of the Disttrack Wiper. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
- LOLBAS. (n.d.). Esentutl.exe. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
- Chen, Joey. (2022, June 9). Aoqin Dragon | Newly-Discovered Chinese-linked APT Has Been Quietly Spying On Organizations For 10 Years. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
- Symantec DeepSight Adversary Intelligence Team. (2019, June 20). Waterbug: Espionage Group Rolls Out Brand-New Toolset in Attacks Against Governments. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
- Faou, M. and Dumont R.. (2019, May 29). A dive into Turla PowerShell usage. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
- MSTIC. (2019, December 12). GALLIUM: Targeting global telecom. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
- Joe Slowik. (2018, October 12). Anatomy of an Attack: Detecting and Defeating CRASHOVERRIDE. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
- FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence. (2017, June 16). FIN10: Anatomy of a Cyber Extortion Operation. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
- Microsoft. (2019, July 12). About BITS. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
- ESET. (2022, March 1). IsaacWiper and HermeticWizard: New wiper and worm targetingUkraine. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- Nicolas Falliere, Liam O. Murchu, Eric Chien. (2011, February). W32.Stuxnet Dossier. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- Dantzig, M. v., Schamper, E. (2019, December 19). Operation Wocao: Shining a light on one of China’s hidden hacking groups. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
- DFIR Report. (2021, November 29). CONTInuing the Bazar Ransomware Story. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
- Noerenberg, E., Costis, A., and Quist, N. (2017, May 16). A Technical Analysis of WannaCry Ransomware. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- Russinovich, M. (2004, June 28). PsExec. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
- John, E. and Carvey, H. (2019, May 30). Unraveling the Spiderweb: Timelining ATT&CK Artifacts Used by GRIM SPIDER. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Copy. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- N/A. (n.d.). ftp(1) - Linux man page. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- Microsoft. (2021, July 21). ftp. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- Gardiner, J., Cova, M., Nagaraja, S. (2014, February). Command & Control Understanding, Denying and Detecting. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- ClearSky. (2016, January 7). Operation DustySky. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
Связанные риски
Риск | Связи | |
---|---|---|
Боковое перемещение злоумышленника по локальной сети из-за
возможности передачи утилит и инструментов при боковом перемещении в операционной системе
Конфиденциальность
Целостность
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1
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Каталоги
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