Process Injection

Sub-techniques (11)

ID	Name
T1055.001	Dynamic-link Library Injection
T1055.002	Portable Executable Injection
T1055.003	Thread Execution Hijacking
T1055.004	Asynchronous Procedure Call
T1055.005	Thread Local Storage
T1055.008	Ptrace System Calls
T1055.009	Proc Memory
T1055.011	Extra Window Memory Injection
T1055.012	Process Hollowing
T1055.013	Process Doppelgänging
T1055.014	VDSO Hijacking

Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges. Process injection is a method of executing arbitrary code in the address space of a separate live process. Running code in the context of another process may allow access to the process's memory, system/network resources, and possibly elevated privileges. Execution via process injection may also evade detection from security products since the execution is masked under a legitimate process.

There are many different ways to inject code into a process, many of which abuse legitimate functionalities. These implementations exist for every major OS but are typically platform specific.

More sophisticated samples may perform multiple process injections to segment modules and further evade detection, utilizing named pipes or other inter-process communication (IPC) mechanisms as a communication channel.

ID: T1055

Sub-techniques: T1055.001, T1055.002, T1055.003, T1055.004, T1055.005, T1055.008, T1055.009, T1055.011, T1055.012, T1055.013, T1055.014

Tactics: Defense Evasion, Privilege Escalation

Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS

Data Sources: API monitoring, DLL monitoring, File monitoring, Named Pipes, Process monitoring

Defense Bypassed: Anti-virus, Application control

CAPEC ID: CAPEC-640

Contributors: Anastasios Pingios; Christiaan Beek, @ChristiaanBeek; Ryan Becwar

Version: 1.1

Created: 31 May 2017

Last Modified: 20 June 2020

Version Permalink

Live Version

Procedure Examples

Name	Description
ABK	ABK has the ability to inject shellcode into svchost.exe.^[25]
APT32	APT32 malware has injected a Cobalt Strike beacon into Rundll32.exe.^[35]
APT37	APT37 injects its malware variant, ROKRAT, into the cmd.exe process.^[29]
APT41	APT41 malware TIDYELF loaded the main WINTERLOVE component by injecting it into the iexplore.exe process.^[32]
Attor	Attor's dispatcher can inject itself into running processes to gain higher privileges and to evade detection.^[23]
AuditCred	AuditCred can inject code from files to other running processes.^[16]
Avenger	Avenger has the ability to inject shellcode into svchost.exe.^[25]
Backdoor.Oldrea	Backdoor.Oldrea injects itself into explorer.exe.^[10]
BBK	BBK has the ability to inject shellcode into svchost.exe.^[25]
Cardinal RAT	Cardinal RAT injects into a newly spawned process created from a native Windows executable.^[9]
Cobalt Group	Cobalt Group has injected code into trusted processes.^[28]
Cobalt Strike	Cobalt Strike can inject a variety of payloads into processes dynamically chosen by the adversary.^[1]
Dyre	Dyre has the ability to directly inject its code into the web browser process.^[26]
Empire	Empire contains multiple modules for injecting into processes, such as `Invoke-PSInject`.^[3]
Gazer	Gazer injects its communication module into an Internet accessible process through which it performs C2.^[20]^[21]
Honeybee	Honeybee uses a batch file to load a DLL into the svchost.exe process.^[30]
HOPLIGHT	HOPLIGHT has injected into running processes.^[17]
HTRAN	HTRAN can inject into into running processes.^[5]
HyperBro	HyperBro can run shellcode it injects into a newly created process.^[19]
JHUHUGIT	JHUHUGIT performs code injection injecting its own functions to browser processes.^[7]^[8]
JPIN	JPIN can inject content into lsass.exe to load a module.^[6]
Kimsuky	Kimsuky has used Win7Elevate to inject malicious code into explorer.exe.^[31]
NavRAT	NavRAT copies itself into a running Internet Explorer process to evade detection.^[15]
PLATINUM	PLATINUM has used various methods of process injection including hot patching.^[6]
PoshC2	PoshC2 contains multiple modules for injecting into processes, such as `Invoke-PSInject`.^[4]
Remcos	Remcos has a command to hide itself through injecting into another process.^[2]
Ryuk	Ryuk has injected itself into remote processes to encrypt files using a combination of `VirtualAlloc`, `WriteProcessMemory`, and `CreateRemoteThread`.^[24]
Sharpshooter	Sharpshooter has leveraged embedded shellcode to inject a downloader into the memory of Word.^[34]
Silence	Silence has injected a DLL library containing a Trojan into the fwmain32.exe process.^[33]
Smoke Loader	Smoke Loader injects into the Internet Explorer process.^[14]
StoneDrill	StoneDrill has relied on injecting its payload directly into the process memory of the victim's preferred browser.^[18]
Taidoor	Taidoor can perform DLL loading.^[13]
TSCookie	TSCookie has the ability to inject code into the svchost.exe, iexplorer.exe, explorer.exe, and default browser processes.^[22]
Turla	Turla has also used PowerSploit's `Invoke-ReflectivePEInjection.ps1` to reflectively load a PowerShell payload into a random process on the victim system.^[27]
Wiarp	Wiarp creates a backdoor through which remote attackers can inject files into running processes.^[12]
Wingbird	Wingbird performs multiple process injections to hijack system processes and execute malicious code.^[11]

Mitigations

Mitigation	Description
Behavior Prevention on Endpoint	Some endpoint security solutions can be configured to block some types of process injection based on common sequences of behavior that occur during the injection process.
Privileged Account Management	Utilize Yama (ex: /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope) to mitigate ptrace based process injection by restricting the use of ptrace to privileged users only. Other mitigation controls involve the deployment of security kernel modules that provide advanced access control and process restrictions such as SELinux, grsecurity, and AppArmor.

Detection

Monitoring Windows API calls indicative of the various types of code injection may generate a significant amount of data and may not be directly useful for defense unless collected under specific circumstances for known bad sequences of calls, since benign use of API functions may be common and difficult to distinguish from malicious behavior. Windows API calls such as CreateRemoteThread, SuspendThread/SetThreadContext/ResumeThread, QueueUserAPC/NtQueueApcThread, and those that can be used to modify memory within another process, such as VirtualAllocEx/WriteProcessMemory, may be used for this technique.^[36]

Monitor DLL/PE file events, specifically creation of these binary files as well as the loading of DLLs into processes. Look for DLLs that are not recognized or not normally loaded into a process.

Monitoring for Linux specific calls such as the ptrace system call should not generate large amounts of data due to their specialized nature, and can be a very effective method to detect some of the common process injection methods.^[37] ^[38] ^[39] ^[40]

Monitor for named pipe creation and connection events (Event IDs 17 and 18) for possible indicators of infected processes with external modules.^[41]

Analyze process behavior to determine if a process is performing actions it usually does not, such as opening network connections, reading files, or other suspicious actions that could relate to post-compromise behavior.

Process Injection

Sub-techniques (11)

Procedure Examples

Mitigations

Detection

References