T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie
EnterpriseAn adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials. Web applications and services often use session cookies as an authentication token after a user has authenticated to a website. Cookies are often valid for an extended period of time, even if the web application is not actively used. Cookies can be found on disk, in the process memory of the browser, and in network traffic to remote systems. Additionally, other applications on the targets machine might store sensitive authentication cookies in memory (e.g. apps which authenticate to cloud services). Session cookies can be used to bypasses some multi-factor authentication protocols. There are several examples of malware targeting cookies from web browsers on the local system. Adversaries may also steal cookies by injecting malicious JavaScript content into websites or relying on User Execution by tricking victims into running malicious JavaScript in their browser. There are also open source frameworks such as `Evilginx2` and `Muraena` that can gather session cookies through a malicious proxy (e.g., Adversary-in-the-Middle) that can be set up by an adversary and used in phishing campaigns. After an adversary acquires a valid cookie, they can then perform a Web Session Cookie technique to login to the corresponding web application.
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.
Harden
Evict
NIST CSF 2.0 — areas of relevance (Protect / Detect)
NIST CSF 2.0 areas this most relates to (evidence-ranked).
- PR.AAIdentity Management, Authentication, and Access Controlmoderate · backed by 4 of 10 mapped controls
- DE.CMContinuous Monitoringmoderate · backed by 3 of 10 mapped controls
- PR.DSData Securitymoderate · backed by 3 of 10 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 (10)
Security controls that mitigate this.
attack patterns (2)
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit this.
groups (8)
Threat groups associated with this.
software (21)
Malware and tools associated with this.
campaigns (1)
Campaigns that use this.
Detected by (Sigma) (2)
Sigma detection rules related to this.
source
Where this definition is published.