T1071.005 Publish/Subscribe Protocols
sub-techniqueEnterpriseAdversaries may communicate using publish/subscribe (pub/sub) application layer protocols to avoid detection/network filtering by blending in with existing traffic. Commands to the remote system, and often the results of those commands, will be embedded within the protocol traffic between the client and server. Protocols such as <code>MQTT</code>, <code>XMPP</code>, <code>AMQP</code>, and <code>STOMP</code> use a publish/subscribe design, with message distribution managed by a centralized broker. Publishers categorize their messages by topics, while subscribers receive messages according to their subscribed topics. An adversary may abuse publish/subscribe protocols to communicate with systems under their control from behind a message broker while also mimicking normal, expected traffic.
platforms
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tactics
ATT&CK tactics this technique serves.
sub-technique of
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mitigations
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detected by (4)
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NIST CSF 2.0 — areas of relevance (Protect / Detect)
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- DE.CMContinuous Monitoringstrong · backed by 3 of 4 mapped controls
- PR.DSData Securitystrong · backed by 3 of 4 mapped controls
- PR.IRTechnology Infrastructure Resiliencestrong · backed by 2 of 4 mapped controls
Derived from MITRE CTID (Apache-2.0) and the NIST 800-53 ↔ CSF crosswalk (public domain). Indicative relevance along the Protect/Detect axis — not a compliance assessment or coverage claim.
mitigating controls (4)
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software (1)
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