CAPEC-653
Use of Known Operating System Credentials
An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate operating system credentials (e.g. userID/password) to achieve authentication and to perform authorized actions on the system, under the guise of an authenticated user or service. This applies to any Operating System.
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This attack can be extremely harmful when the operating system credentials used are for a root or admin user. Once an adversary gains access using credentials with elevated privileges, they are free to alter important system files which can effect other users who may use the system or other users on the system's network.
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Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-653: Use of Known Operating System Credentials: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/653.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/653?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
How the attack unfolds
Explore
The attacker looks for a way in.
[Acquire known operating system credentials] The adversary must obtain known operating system credentials in order to access the target system, application, or service within the domain.
5 techniques
- An adversary purchases breached operating system username/password combinations or leaked hashed passwords from the dark web.
- An adversary leverages a key logger or phishing attack to steal user credentials as they are provided.
- An adversary conducts a sniffing attack to steal operating system credentials as they are transmitted.
- An adversary gains access to a system/files and exfiltrates password hashes.
- An adversary examines outward-facing configuration and properties files to discover hardcoded credentials.
Experiment
They probe what they found.
[Attempt authentication] Try each operating system credential against various systems, applications, and services within the domain until the target grants access.
1 technique
- Manually or automatically enter each credential through the target's interface.
Exploit
They carry out the attack.
[Impersonate] An adversary can use successful experiments or authentications to impersonate an authorized user or system, or to laterally move within the network
[Spoofing] Malicious data can be injected into the target system or into other systems on the network. The adversary can also pose as a legitimate user to perform social engineering attacks.
[Data Exfiltration] The adversary can obtain sensitive data contained within system files or application configuration.
Prerequisites
The system/application uses one factor password-based authentication, SSO, and/or cloud-based authentication.
The system/application does not have a sound password policy that is being enforced.
The system/application does not implement an effective password throttling mechanism.
The adversary possesses a list of known user accounts and corresponding passwords that may exist on the target.
Skills required
- Low skill
Once an adversary obtains a known credential, leveraging it is trivial.
Resources required
A list of known credentials for the targeted domain.
A custom script that leverages a credential list to launch an attack.
Signs of an attack
Authentication attempts use credentials that have been used previously by the account in question.
Authentication attempts are originating from IP addresses or locations that are inconsistent with a user's normal IP addresses or locations.
Data is being transferred and/or removed from systems/applications within the network.
Suspicious or Malicious software is downloaded/installed on systems within the domain.
Messages from a legitimate user appear to contain suspicious links or communications not consistent with the user's normal behavior.
Consequences
| Impact | Affects | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gain Privileges | Confidentiality, Access Control, Authentication | |
| Read Data | Confidentiality, Authorization | |
| Modify Data | Integrity |
Mitigations
Leverage multi-factor authentication for all authentication services and prior to granting an entity access to the network.
Create a strong password policy and ensure that your system enforces this policy.
Ensure users are not reusing username/password combinations for multiple systems, applications, or services.
Do not reuse local administrator account credentials across systems.
Deny remote use of local admin credentials to log into domain systems.
Do not allow accounts to be a local administrator on more than one system.
Implement an intelligent password throttling mechanism. Care must be taken to assure that these mechanisms do not excessively enable account lockout attacks such as CAPEC-2.
Monitor system and domain logs for abnormal credential access.
Weaknesses it exploits
- CWE-262 Not Using Password Aging
- CWE-263 Password Aging with Long Expiration
- CWE-307 Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts
- CWE-308 Use of Single-factor Authentication
- CWE-309 Use of Password System for Primary Authentication
- CWE-522 Insufficiently Protected Credentials
- CWE-654 Reliance on a Single Factor in a Security Decision
Recent CVEs with these weaknesses
- –CVE-2026-97867
The EJBd remote protocol returns datasource connection details, including database credentials, to remote clients that look up a datasource. A remote client able to reach the EJBd endpoint can obtain the database credentials and connect to…
- 6.0CVE-2026-89125
Due to Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information in SAP Web Dispatcher and Internet Communication Manager, an attacker with administrative privileges could obtain sensitive information from stored data. This may allow correlation of creden…
- 5.4CVE-2026-113968
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.12 and iPadOS 18.7.12, iOS 26.7.3 and iPadOS 26.7.3, iOS 27.2.1 and iPadOS 27.2.1, macOS Golden Gate 27.2.1, macOS Sequoia 15.8.3, macOS Tahoe 26.7…
- 5.4CVE-2026-113964
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.12 and iPadOS 18.7.12, iOS 26.7.3 and iPadOS 26.7.3, iOS 27.2.1 and iPadOS 27.2.1, macOS Golden Gate 27.2.1, macOS Sequoia 15.8.3, macOS Tahoe 26.7…
- 7.1CVE-2026-115340
Progress Software WS_FTP Server versions prior to 2025.0.5 on Windows may write sensitive user credential and session data to a temporary file during file transfer operations.
- 6.6CVE-2026-112164
The LaserGest mobile application encrypts stored assistance portal credentials with a hardcoded AES key and IV, allowing an attacker with access to the application package to recover them in cleartext.
- 6.9CVE-2026-112205
WidzialniCMS is vulnerable to Bruteforce Protection Bypass in the login functionality. The cookie-based lockout can be bypassed by omitting the login_count and login_timeout cookies, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to perform an unlim…
- –CVE-2026-111452
Apache Airflow's secrets masker matched sensitive key names only in their snake_case form, so values stored under camelCase keys such as `privateKey`, `connectionString`, `webhookUrl` or `accessKey` — for example in a Connection's extra or…
The newest records naming one of them. Each weakness's page lists them all.
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Examples
Adversaries exploited the Zoom video conferencing application during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to exfiltrate…
Adversaries exploited the Zoom video conferencing application during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to exfiltrate Windows domain credentials from a target system. The attack entailed sending Universal Naming Convention (UNC) paths within the Zoom chat window of an unprotected Zoom call. If the victim clicked on the link, their Windows usernames and the corresponding Net-NTLM-v2 hashes were sent to the address contained in the link. The adversary was then able to infiltrate and laterally move within the Windows domain by passing the acquired credentials to shared network resources. This further provided adversaries with access to Outlook servers and network storage devices. [REF-575]
Mimikatz, a post-exploitation Windows credential harvester, can be used to gather and exploit Windows credent…
Mimikatz, a post-exploitation Windows credential harvester, can be used to gather and exploit Windows credentials. This malware has been used in several known cyberattacks, such as the Petya Ransomeware attacks. [REF-576]
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