LSASS Driver

T1547.008

Sub-technique of T1547 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution.View on attack.mitre.org

About this technique

Adversaries may modify or add LSASS drivers to obtain persistence on compromised systems. The Windows security subsystem is a set of components that manage and enforce the security policy for a computer or domain. The Local Security Authority (LSA) is the main component responsible for local security policy and user authentication. The LSA includes multiple dynamic link libraries (DLLs) associated with various other security functions, all of which run in the context of the LSA Subsystem Service (LSASS) lsass.exe process.

Adversaries may target LSASS drivers to obtain persistence. By either replacing or adding illegitimate drivers (e.g., Hijack Execution Flow), an adversary can use LSA operations to continuously execute malicious payloads.

Detection rules2

Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1547.008.

Sigma1

RuleLevelLog source
DLL Load via LSASShighwindows / registry_event

Splunk1

RuleTypeRiskData source
Windows Autostart Execution LSASS Driver Registry ModificationTTPNULLSysmon EventID 13

Groups0

None recorded.

Software2

Campaigns0

None recorded.

Procedure examples2

Software2

Used byProcedure example
MalwarePasam

Pasam establishes by infecting the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) DLL to load a malicious DLL dropped to disk.

MalwareWingbird

Wingbird drops a malicious file (sspisrv.dll) alongside a copy of lsass.exe, which is used to register a service that loads sspisrv.dll as a driver. The payload of the malicious driver (located in its entry-point function) is executed when loaded by lsass.exe before the spoofed service becomes unstable and crashes.

References1

  1. Microsoft Security Subsystem Open source
    Microsoft. (n.d.). Security Subsystem Architecture. Retrieved November 27, 2017.

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