Adversaries may "pass the hash" using stolen password hashes to move laterally within an environment, bypassing normal system access controls. Pass the hash (PtH) is a method of authenticating as a user without having access to the user's cleartext password. This method bypasses standard authentication steps that require a cleartext password, moving directly into the portion of the authentication that uses the password hash. In this technique, valid password hashes for the account being used are captured using a Credential Access technique. Captured hashes are used with PtH to authenticate as that user. Once authenticated, PtH may be used to perform actions on local or remote systems.

Windows 7 and higher with KB2871997 require valid domain user credentials or RID 500 administrator hashes.^[1]

ID: T1550.002

Sub-technique of: T1550

Tactics: Defense Evasion, Lateral Movement

Platforms: Windows

Data Sources: Authentication logs

Defense Bypassed: System Access Controls

CAPEC ID: CAPEC-644

Contributors: Travis Smith, Tripwire

Version: 1.0

Created: 30 January 2020

Last Modified: 23 March 2020

Version Permalink

Live Version

Procedure Examples

Name	Description
APT1	The APT1 group is known to have used pass the hash.^[3]
APT28	APT28 has used pass the hash for lateral movement.^[11]
APT32	APT32 has used pass the hash for lateral movement.^[10]
Cobalt Strike	Cobalt Strike can perform pass the hash.^[4]
Empire	Empire can perform pass the hash attacks.^[7]
HOPLIGHT	HOPLIGHT has been observed loading several APIs associated with Pass the Hash.^[9]
Mimikatz	Mimikatz's `SEKURLSA::Pth` module can impersonate a user, with only a password hash, to execute arbitrary commands.^[5]^[6]
Night Dragon	Night Dragon used pass-the-hash tools to gain usernames and passwords.^[12]
Pass-The-Hash Toolkit	Pass-The-Hash Toolkit can perform pass the hash.^[3]
PoshC2	PoshC2 has a number of modules that leverage pass the hash for lateral movement.^[8]
Soft Cell	Soft Cell used dumped hashes to authenticate to other machines via pass the hash.^[13]

Mitigations

Mitigation	Description
Privileged Account Management	Limit credential overlap across systems to prevent the damage of credential compromise and reduce the adversary's ability to perform Lateral Movement between systems.
Update Software	Apply patch KB2871997 to Windows 7 and higher systems to limit the default access of accounts in the local administrator group.
User Account Control	Enable pass the hash mitigations to apply UAC restrictions to local accounts on network logon. The associated Registry key is located `HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy`. Through GPO: Computer Configuration > [Policies] > Administrative Templates > SCM: Pass the Hash Mitigations: Apply UAC restrictions to local accounts on network logons.^[2]
User Account Management	Do not allow a domain user to be in the local administrator group on multiple systems.

Detection

Audit all logon and credential use events and review for discrepancies. Unusual remote logins that correlate with other suspicious activity (such as writing and executing binaries) may indicate malicious activity. NTLM LogonType 3 authentications that are not associated to a domain login and are not anonymous logins are suspicious.

Use Alternate Authentication Material: Pass the Hash

Other sub-techniques of Use Alternate Authentication Material (4)

Procedure Examples

Mitigations

Detection

References