T1490 Inhibit System Recovery
EnterpriseAdversaries may delete or remove built-in data and turn off services designed to aid in the recovery of a corrupted system to prevent recovery. This may deny access to available backups and recovery options. Operating systems may contain features that can help fix corrupted systems, such as a backup catalog, volume shadow copies, and automatic repair features. Adversaries may disable or delete system recovery features to augment the effects of Data Destruction and Data Encrypted for Impact. Furthermore, adversaries may disable recovery notifications, then corrupt backups. A number of native Windows utilities have been used by adversaries to disable or delete system recovery features: * <code>vssadmin.exe</code> can be used to delete all volume shadow copies on a system - <code>vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet</code> * Windows Management Instrumentation can be used to delete volume shadow copies - <code>wmic shadowcopy delete</code> * <code>wbadmin.exe</code> can be used to delete the Windows Backup Catalog - <code>wbadmin.exe delete catalog -quiet</code> * <code>bcdedit.exe</code> can be used to disable automatic Windows recovery features by modifying boot configuration data - <code>bcdedit.exe /set {default} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures & bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no</code> * <code>REAgentC.exe</code> can be used to disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) repair/recovery options of an infected system * <code>diskshadow.exe</code> can be used to delete all volume shadow copies on a system - <code>diskshadow delete shadows all</code> On network devices, adversaries may leverage Disk Wipe to delete backup firmware images and reformat the file system, then System Shutdown/Reboot to reload the device. Together this activity may leave network devices completely inoperable and inhibit recovery operations. On ESXi servers, adversaries may delete or encrypt snapshots of virtual machines to support Data Encrypted for Impact, preventing them from being leveraged as backups (e.g., via ` vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.removeall`). Adversaries may also delete “online” backups that are connected to their network – whether via network storage media or through folders that sync to cloud services. In cloud environments, adversaries may disable versioning and backup policies and delete snapshots, database backups, machine images, and prior versions of objects designed to be used in disaster recovery scenarios.
platforms
Platforms this applies to.
tactics
ATT&CK tactics this technique serves.
mitigations
ATT&CK mitigations that reduce this.
detected by (7)
Data components that detect this.
countered by (D3FEND)
D3FEND countermeasures that counter this.
NIST CSF 2.0 — areas of relevance (Protect / Detect)
NIST CSF 2.0 areas this most relates to (evidence-ranked).
- PR.DSData Securitymoderate · backed by 6 of 13 mapped controls
- DE.CMContinuous Monitoringmoderate · backed by 4 of 13 mapped controls
- PR.PSPlatform Securitymoderate · backed by 4 of 13 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 (13)
Security controls that mitigate this.
known-exploited CVEs (2)
Related CVEs.
| ID | severity | exploitable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-21391US | —OT critical | KEV | ||
Windows Storage Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | ||||
| CVE-2023-36884US | —OT critical | KEV | ||
Windows Search Remote Code Execution Vulnerability | ||||
groups (7)
Threat groups associated with this.
software (49)
Malware and tools associated with this.
campaigns (1)
Campaigns that use this.
Detected by (Sigma) (27)
Sigma detection rules related to this.
source
Where this definition is published.