Technique on mitre.org

T1211: Exploitation for Defense Evasion

Adversaries may exploit a system or application vulnerability to bypass security features. Exploitation of a vulnerability occurs when an adversary takes advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to execute adversary-controlled code. Vulnerabilities may exist in defensive security software that can be used to disable or circumvent them.

Adversaries may have prior knowledge through reconnaissance that security software exists within an environment or they may perform checks during or shortly after the system is compromised for Security Software Discovery. The security software will likely be targeted directly for exploitation. There are examples of antivirus software being targeted by persistent threat groups to avoid detection.

There have also been examples of vulnerabilities in public cloud infrastructure of SaaS applications that may bypass defense boundaries , evade security logs , or deploy hidden infrastructure.

Positive Technologies products that cover the technique

MaxPatrol SIEM knowledge base

vulnerabilities: PT-CR-2492: CVE_2024_29510_Ghostscript: Possible code execution using the CVE-2024-29510 vulnerability. It is a format string vulnerability in Ghostscript versions before 10.03.1 that allows you to bypass the sandbox and execute arbitrary commands. This vulnerability can be used via libraries such as ImageMagick. vulnerabilities: PT-CR-1377: Foxit_PDF_Reader_RCE: Possible exploitation of vulnerability CVE-2022-28672 in Foxit PDF Reader, which can lead to arbitrary code execution security_code_secret_net_lsp: PT-CR-1894: SecretNet_LSP_Multiple_Host_Unlock: Bulk unlock of network hosts

Detection

ID	DS0015	Data source and component	Application Log: Application Log Content	Description	Exploitation for defense evasion may happen shortly after the system has been compromised to prevent detection during later actions for for additional tools that may be brought in and used. Detecting software exploitation may be difficult depending on the tools available. Software exploits may not always succeed or may cause the exploited process to become unstable or crash.

ID	DS0009	Data source and component	Process: Process Creation	Description	Monitor for abnormal process creations, such as a Command and Scripting Interpreter spawning from a potentially exploited application. Also look for behavior on the system that might indicate successful compromise, such as abnormal behavior of processes.

ID	Data source and component	Description
DS0015	Application Log: Application Log Content	Exploitation for defense evasion may happen shortly after the system has been compromised to prevent detection during later actions for for additional tools that may be brought in and used. Detecting software exploitation may be difficult depending on the tools available. Software exploits may not always succeed or may cause the exploited process to become unstable or crash.
DS0009	Process: Process Creation	Monitor for abnormal process creations, such as a Command and Scripting Interpreter spawning from a potentially exploited application. Also look for behavior on the system that might indicate successful compromise, such as abnormal behavior of processes.

Mitigation

ID	M1051	Name	Update Software	Description	Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.

ID	M1050	Name	Exploit Protection	Description	Security applications that look for behavior used during exploitation such as Windows Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG) and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) can be used to mitigate some exploitation behavior. Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for software targeted for defense evasion.

ID	M1019	Name	Threat Intelligence Program	Description	Develop a robust cyber threat intelligence capability to determine what types and levels of threat may use software exploits and 0-days against a particular organization.

ID	M1048	Name	Application Isolation and Sandboxing	Description	Make it difficult for adversaries to advance their operation through exploitation of undiscovered or unpatched vulnerabilities by using sandboxing. Other types of virtualization and application microsegmentation may also mitigate the impact of some types of exploitation. Risks of additional exploits and weaknesses in these systems may still exist.

ID	Name	Description
M1051	Update Software	Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.
M1050	Exploit Protection	Security applications that look for behavior used during exploitation such as Windows Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG) and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) can be used to mitigate some exploitation behavior. Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for software targeted for defense evasion.
M1019	Threat Intelligence Program	Develop a robust cyber threat intelligence capability to determine what types and levels of threat may use software exploits and 0-days against a particular organization.
M1048	Application Isolation and Sandboxing	Make it difficult for adversaries to advance their operation through exploitation of undiscovered or unpatched vulnerabilities by using sandboxing. Other types of virtualization and application microsegmentation may also mitigate the impact of some types of exploitation. Risks of additional exploits and weaknesses in these systems may still exist.