T1542.003 Bootkit
sub-techniqueEnterpriseAdversaries may use bootkits to persist on systems. A bootkit is a malware variant that modifies the boot sectors of a hard drive, allowing malicious code to execute before a computer's operating system has loaded. Bootkits reside at a layer below the operating system and may make it difficult to perform full remediation unless an organization suspects one was used and can act accordingly. In BIOS systems, a bootkit may modify the Master Boot Record (MBR) and/or Volume Boot Record (VBR). The MBR is the section of disk that is first loaded after completing hardware initialization by the BIOS. It is the location of the boot loader. An adversary who has raw access to the boot drive may overwrite this area, diverting execution during startup from the normal boot loader to adversary code. The MBR passes control of the boot process to the VBR. Similar to the case of MBR, an adversary who has raw access to the boot drive may overwrite the VBR to divert execution during startup to adversary code. In UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) systems, a bootkit may instead create or modify files in the EFI system partition (ESP). The ESP is a partition on data storage used by devices containing UEFI that allows the system to boot the OS and other utilities used by the system. An adversary can use the newly created or patched files in the ESP to run malicious kernel code.
platforms
Platforms this applies to.
tactics
ATT&CK tactics this technique serves.
sub-technique of
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mitigations
ATT&CK mitigations that reduce this.
detected by (4)
Data components that detect this.
countered by (D3FEND)
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NIST CSF 2.0 — areas of relevance (Protect / Detect)
NIST CSF 2.0 areas this most relates to (evidence-ranked).
- PR.PSPlatform Securitystrong · backed by 10 of 18 mapped controls
- PR.AAIdentity Management, Authentication, and Access Controlmoderate · backed by 7 of 18 mapped controls
- DE.CMContinuous Monitoringmoderate · backed by 5 of 18 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 (18)
Security controls that mitigate this.
attack patterns (1)
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit this.
groups (3)
Threat groups associated with this.
software (6)
Malware and tools associated with this.
Detected by (Sigma) (1)
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source
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