T1548.001 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Setuid and Setgid

Description from ATT&CK

An adversary may abuse configurations where an application has the setuid or setgid bits set in order to get code running in a different (and possibly more privileged) user’s context. On Linux or macOS, when the setuid or setgid bits are set for an application binary, the application will run with the privileges of the owning user or group respectively.(Citation: setuid man page) Normally an application is run in the current user’s context, regardless of which user or group owns the application. However, there are instances where programs need to be executed in an elevated context to function properly, but the user running them may not have the specific required privileges. Instead of creating an entry in the sudoers file, which must be done by root, any user can specify the setuid or setgid flag to be set for their own applications (i.e. [Linux and Mac File and Directory Permissions Modification](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1222/002)). The chmod command can set these bits with bitmasking, chmod 4777 [file] or via shorthand naming, chmod u+s [file]. This will enable the setuid bit. To enable the setgid bit, chmod 2775 and chmod g+s can be used. Adversaries can use this mechanism on their own malware to make sure they're able to execute in elevated contexts in the future.(Citation: OSX Keydnap malware) This abuse is often part of a "shell escape" or other actions to bypass an execution environment with restricted permissions. Alternatively, adversaries may choose to find and target vulnerable binaries with the setuid or setgid bits already enabled (i.e. [File and Directory Discovery](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1083)). The setuid and setguid bits are indicated with an "s" instead of an "x" when viewing a file's attributes via ls -l. The find command can also be used to search for such files. For example, find / -perm +4000 2>/dev/null can be used to find files with setuid set and find / -perm +2000 2>/dev/null may be used for setgid. Binaries that have these bits set may then be abused by adversaries.(Citation: GTFOBins Suid)

Atomic Tests


Atomic Test #1 - Make and modify binary from C source

Make, change owner, and change file attributes on a C source code file

Supported Platforms: macOS, Linux

auto_generated_guid: 896dfe97-ae43-4101-8e96-9a7996555d80

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | payload | hello.c payload | path | PathToAtomicsFolder/T1548.001/src/hello.c|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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cp #{payload} /tmp/hello.c
sudo chown root /tmp/hello.c
sudo make /tmp/hello
sudo chown root /tmp/hello
sudo chmod u+s /tmp/hello
/tmp/hello

Cleanup Commands:

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sudo rm /tmp/hello
sudo rm /tmp/hello.c



Atomic Test #2 - Make and modify binary from C source (freebsd)

Make, change owner, and change file attributes on a C source code file

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: dd580455-d84b-481b-b8b0-ac96f3b1dc4c

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | payload | hello.c payload | path | PathToAtomicsFolder/T1548.001/src/hello.c|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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cp #{payload} /tmp/hello.c
chown root /tmp/hello.c
make /tmp/hello
chown root /tmp/hello
chmod u+s /tmp/hello
/tmp/hello

Cleanup Commands:

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rm /tmp/hello
rm /tmp/hello.c



Atomic Test #3 - Set a SetUID flag on file

This test sets the SetUID flag on a file in FreeBSD.

Supported Platforms: macOS, Linux

auto_generated_guid: 759055b3-3885-4582-a8ec-c00c9d64dd79

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | file_to_setuid | Path of file to set SetUID flag | path | /tmp/evilBinary|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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sudo touch #{file_to_setuid}
sudo chown root #{file_to_setuid}
sudo chmod u+xs #{file_to_setuid}

Cleanup Commands:

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sudo rm #{file_to_setuid}



Atomic Test #4 - Set a SetUID flag on file (freebsd)

This test sets the SetUID flag on a file in FreeBSD.

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: 9be9b827-ff47-4e1b-bef8-217db6fb7283

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | file_to_setuid | Path of file to set SetUID flag | path | /tmp/evilBinary|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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touch #{file_to_setuid}
chown root #{file_to_setuid}
chmod u+xs #{file_to_setuid}

Cleanup Commands:

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rm #{file_to_setuid}



Atomic Test #5 - Set a SetGID flag on file

This test sets the SetGID flag on a file in Linux and macOS.

Supported Platforms: macOS, Linux

auto_generated_guid: db55f666-7cba-46c6-9fe6-205a05c3242c

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | file_to_setuid | Path of file to set SetGID flag | path | /tmp/evilBinary|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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sudo touch #{file_to_setuid}
sudo chown root #{file_to_setuid}
sudo chmod g+xs #{file_to_setuid}

Cleanup Commands:

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sudo rm #{file_to_setuid}



Atomic Test #6 - Set a SetGID flag on file (freebsd)

This test sets the SetGID flag on a file in FreeBSD.

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: 1f73af33-62a8-4bf1-bd10-3bea931f2c0d

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | file_to_setuid | Path of file to set SetGID flag | path | /tmp/evilBinary|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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touch #{file_to_setuid}
chown root #{file_to_setuid}
chmod g+xs #{file_to_setuid}

Cleanup Commands:

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rm #{file_to_setuid}



Atomic Test #7 - Make and modify capabilities of a binary

Make and modify capabilities of a C source code file. The binary doesn’t have to modify the UID, but the binary is given the capability to arbitrarily modify it at any time with 

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setuid(0)
. Without being owned by root, the binary can set the UID to 0.

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: db53959c-207d-4000-9e7a-cd8eb417e072

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | payload | cap.c payload | path | PathToAtomicsFolder/T1548.001/src/cap.c|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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cp #{payload} /tmp/cap.c
make /tmp/cap
sudo setcap cap_setuid=ep /tmp/cap
/tmp/cap

Cleanup Commands:

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rm /tmp/cap
rm /tmp/cap.c



Atomic Test #8 - Provide the SetUID capability to a file

This test gives a file the capability to set UID without using flags.

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: 1ac3272f-9bcf-443a-9888-4b1d3de785c1

Inputs:

| Name | Description | Type | Default Value | |——|————-|——|—————| | file_to_setcap | Path of file to provide the SetUID capability | path | /tmp/evilBinary|

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

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touch #{file_to_setcap}
sudo setcap cap_setuid=ep #{file_to_setcap}

Cleanup Commands:

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rm #{file_to_setcap}



Atomic Test #9 - Do reconnaissance for files that have the setuid bit set

This test simulates a command that can be run to enumerate files that have the setuid bit set

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: 8e36da01-cd29-45fd-be72-8a0fcaad4481

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
!

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find /usr/bin -perm -4000



Atomic Test #10 - Do reconnaissance for files that have the setgid bit set

This test simulates a command that can be run to enumerate files that have the setgid bit set

Supported Platforms: Linux

auto_generated_guid: 3fb46e17-f337-4c14-9f9a-a471946533e2

Attack Commands: Run with 
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sh
!

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find /usr/bin -perm -2000