Sub-technique of T1110 Brute Force.View on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may use password cracking to attempt to recover usable credentials, such as plaintext passwords, when credential material such as password hashes are obtained. OS Credential Dumping can be used to obtain password hashes, this may only get an adversary so far when Pass the Hash is not an option. Further, adversaries may leverage Data from Configuration Repository in order to obtain hashed credentials for network devices.
Techniques to systematically guess the passwords used to compute hashes are available, or the adversary may use a pre-computed rainbow table to crack hashes. Cracking hashes is usually done on adversary-controlled systems outside of the target network. The resulting plaintext password resulting from a successfully cracked hash may be used to log into systems, resources, and services in which the account has access.
Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1110.002.
| Rule | Level | Log source |
|---|---|---|
| HackTool - Hashcat Password Cracker Execution | high | windows / process_creation |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| GroupAPT3 | APT3 has been known to brute force password hashes to be able to leverage plain text credentials. |
| GroupDragonfly | Dragonfly has dropped and executed tools used for password cracking, including Hydra and CrackMapExec. |
| GroupFIN6 | FIN6 has extracted password hashes from ntds.dit to crack offline. |
| GroupSalt Typhoon | Salt Typhoon has cracked passwords for accounts with weak encryption obtained from the configuration files of compromised network devices. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| MalwareNet Crawler | Net Crawler uses a list of known credentials gathered through credential dumping to guess passwords to accounts as it spreads throughout a network. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| Campaign2025 Poland Wiper Attacks | During the 2025 Poland Wiper Attacks, the adversaries attempted to crack user passwords. |
| CampaignNight Dragon | During Night Dragon, threat actors used Cain & Abel to crack password hashes. |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
