T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle

Enterprise

Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique to support follow-on behaviors such as Network Sniffing, Transmitted Data Manipulation, or replay attacks (Exploitation for Credential Access). By abusing features of common networking protocols that can determine the flow of network traffic (e.g. ARP, DNS, LLMNR, etc.), adversaries may force a device to communicate through an adversary controlled system so they can collect information or perform additional actions. For example, adversaries may manipulate victim DNS settings to enable other malicious activities such as preventing/redirecting users from accessing legitimate sites and/or pushing additional malware. Adversaries may also manipulate DNS and leverage their position in order to intercept user credentials, including access tokens (Steal Application Access Token) and session cookies (Steal Web Session Cookie). Downgrade Attacks can also be used to establish an AiTM position, such as by negotiating a less secure, deprecated, or weaker version of communication protocol (SSL/TLS) or encryption algorithm. Adversaries may also leverage the AiTM position to attempt to monitor and/or modify traffic, such as in Transmitted Data Manipulation. Adversaries can setup a position similar to AiTM to prevent traffic from flowing to the appropriate destination, potentially to impair defenses and/or in support of a Network Denial of Service.

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platforms

Platforms this applies to.

LinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesWindows
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tactics

ATT&CK tactics this technique serves.

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mitigations

ATT&CK mitigations that reduce this.

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NIST CSF 2.0 — areas of relevance (Protect / Detect)

NIST CSF 2.0 areas this most relates to (evidence-ranked).

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.

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known-exploited CVEs (4)

Related CVEs.

IDseverity exploitable
CVE-2025-31201US—OT criticalKEV
This issue was addressed by removing the vulnerable code. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, visionOS 2.4.1. An attacker with a…
CVE-2025-31200US—OT criticalKEV
A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, visionOS 2.4.1, watch…
CVE-2022-1040UScritical9.8OT criticalKEV
An authentication bypass vulnerability in the User Portal and Webadmin allows a remote attacker to execute code in Sophos Firewall version v18.5 MR3 and older.
CVE-2019-5591USmedium6.5OT criticalKEV
A Default Configuration vulnerability in FortiOS may allow an unauthenticated attacker on the same subnet to intercept sensitive information by impersonating the LDAP server.
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attack patterns (1)

CAPEC attack patterns that exploit this.

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groups (3)

Threat groups associated with this.

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software (5)

Malware and tools associated with this.

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campaigns (1)

Campaigns that use this.

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Detected by (Sigma) (10)

Sigma detection rules related to this.

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source

Where this definition is published.