Device Registration

T1098.005

Sub-technique of T1098 Account Manipulation.View on attack.mitre.org

About this technique

Adversaries may register a device to an adversary-controlled account. Devices may be registered in a multifactor authentication (MFA) system, which handles authentication to the network, or in a device management system, which handles device access and compliance.

MFA systems, such as Duo or Okta, allow users to associate devices with their accounts in order to complete MFA requirements. An adversary that compromises a user’s credentials may enroll a new device in order to bypass initial MFA requirements and gain persistent access to a network. In some cases, the MFA self-enrollment process may require only a username and password to enroll the account's first device or to enroll a device to an inactive account.

Similarly, an adversary with existing access to a network may register a device or a virtual machine to Entra ID and/or its device management system, Microsoft Intune, in order to access sensitive data or resources while bypassing conditional access policies.

Devices registered in Entra ID may be able to conduct Internal Spearphishing campaigns via intra-organizational emails, which are less likely to be treated as suspicious by the email client. Additionally, an adversary may be able to perform a Service Exhaustion Flood on an Entra ID tenant by registering a large number of devices.

Detection rules7

Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1098.005.

Sigma1

RuleLevelLog source
Windows LAPS Credential Dump From Entra IDhighazure / NULL

Splunk6

Groups1

Software1

Campaigns2

Procedure examples4

Groups1

Used byProcedure example
GroupAPT29

APT29 has enrolled their own devices into compromised cloud tenants, including enrolling a device in MFA to an Azure AD environment following a successful password guessing attack against a dormant account.

Software1

Used byProcedure example
ToolAADInternals

AADInternals can register a device to Azure AD.

Campaigns2

Used byProcedure example
CampaignC0027

During C0027, Scattered Spider registered devices for MFA to maintain persistence through victims' VPN.

CampaignSolarWinds Compromise

During the SolarWinds Compromise, APT29 registered devices in order to enable mailbox syncing via the `Set-CASMailbox` command.

References9

  1. AADInternals - BPRT Open source
    Dr. Nestori Syynimaa. (2021, January 31). BPRT unleashed: Joining multiple devices to Azure AD and Intune. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  2. AADInternals - Conditional Access Bypass Open source
    Dr. Nestori Syynimaa. (2020, September 6). Bypassing conditional access by faking device compliance. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  3. AADInternals - Device Registration Open source
    Dr. Nestori Syynimaa. (2021, March 3). Deep-dive to Azure AD device join. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  4. CISA MFA PrintNightmare Open source
    Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. (2022, March 15). Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Gain Network Access by Exploiting Default Multifactor Authentication Protocols and “PrintNightmare” Vulnerability. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  5. DarkReading FireEye SolarWinds Open source
    Kelly Jackson Higgins. (2021, January 7). FireEye's Mandia: 'Severity-Zero Alert' Led to Discovery of SolarWinds Attack. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  6. Expel Atlas Lion 2025 Open source
    Ben Nahorney and Jennifer Maynard. (2025, April 10). Observing Atlas Lion (part one): Why take control when you can enroll?. Retrieved May 22, 2025.
  7. Mandiant APT29 Microsoft 365 2022 Open source
    Douglas Bienstock. (2022, August 18). You Can’t Audit Me: APT29 Continues Targeting Microsoft 365. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  8. Microsoft - Device Registration Open source
    Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team. (2022, January 26). Evolved phishing: Device registration trick adds to phishers’ toolbox for victims without MFA. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  9. Microsoft DEV-0537 Open source
    Microsoft. (2022, March 22). DEV-0537 criminal actor targeting organizations for data exfiltration and destruction. Retrieved March 23, 2022.

Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.