T1033 System Owner/User Discovery

Enterprise

Adversaries may attempt to identify the primary user, currently logged in user, set of users that commonly uses a system, or whether a user is actively using the system. They may do this, for example, by retrieving account usernames or by using OS Credential Dumping. The information may be collected in a number of different ways using other Discovery techniques, because user and username details are prevalent throughout a system and include running process ownership, file/directory ownership, session information, and system logs. Adversaries may use the information from System Owner/User Discovery during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether or not the adversary fully infects the target and/or attempts specific actions. Various utilities and commands may acquire this information, including <code>whoami</code>. In macOS and Linux, the currently logged in user can be identified with <code>w</code> and <code>who</code>. On macOS the <code>dscl. list /Users | grep -v '_'</code> command can also be used to enumerate user accounts. Environment variables, such as <code>%USERNAME%</code> and <code>$USER</code>, may also be used to access this information. On network devices, Network Device CLI commands such as `show users` and `show ssh` can be used to display users currently logged into the device.

01

platforms

Platforms this applies to.

LinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesWindows
02

tactics

ATT&CK tactics this technique serves.

03

detected by (3)

Data components that detect this.

04

countered by (D3FEND)

D3FEND countermeasures that counter this.

05

known-exploited CVEs (2)

Related CVEs.

IDseverity exploitable
CVE-2024-4577UScritical9.8OT criticalKEV
In PHP versions 8.1.* before 8.1.29, 8.2.* before 8.2.20, 8.3.* before 8.3.8, when using Apache and PHP-CGI on Windows, if the system is set up to use certain code pages, Windows m…
CVE-2023-22518UScritical9.8OT criticalKEV
All versions of Confluence Data Center and Server are affected by this unexploited vulnerability. This Improper Authorization vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to re…
06

attack patterns (1)

CAPEC attack patterns that exploit this.

07

groups (40)

Threat groups associated with this.

08

software (202)

Malware and tools associated with this.

10

Detected by (Sigma) (30)

Sigma detection rules related to this.

showing 20 of 30
11

source

Where this definition is published.