Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of a default account as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Default accounts are those that are built-into an OS, such as the Guest or Administrator accounts on Windows systems. Default accounts also include default factory/provider set accounts on other types of systems, software, or devices, including the root user account in AWS, the root user account in ESXi, and the default service account in Kubernetes.(Citation: Microsoft Local Accounts Feb 2019)(Citation: AWS Root User)(Citation: Threat Matrix for Kubernetes) Default accounts are not limited to client machines; rather, they also include accounts that are preset for equipment such as network devices and computer applications, whether they are internal, open source, or commercial. Appliances that come preset with a username and password combination pose a serious threat to organizations that do not change it post installation, as they are easy targets for an adversary. Similarly, adversaries may also utilize publicly disclosed or stolen [Private Keys](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1552/004) or credential materials to legitimately connect to remote environments via [Remote Services](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1021).(Citation: Metasploit SSH Module) Default accounts may be created on a system after initial setup by connecting or integrating it with another application. For example, when an ESXi server is connected to a vCenter server, a default privileged account called `vpxuser` is created on the ESXi server. If a threat actor is able to compromise this account’s credentials (for example, via [Exploitation for Credential Access](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1212) on the vCenter host), they will then have access to the ESXi server.(Citation: Google Cloud Threat Intelligence VMWare ESXi Zero-Day 2023)(Citation: Pentera vCenter Information Disclosure)

Linked Issues

Issuelinks
Linktyp Issue
is related to Techniques
is blocked by Detection of Default Account Abuse Across Platforms
is blocked by Multi-factor Authentication
is blocked by Password Policies
is blocked by Security, Compliance & Resilience Controls Oversight
is blocked by Continuous Monitoring
is blocked by Encrypting Data At Rest
is blocked by Separation of Duties (SoD)
is blocked by Account Management
is blocked by Least Privilege
is blocked by Secure Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Management
is blocked by Secure Engineering Principles
is blocked by Technology Development & Acquisition
is blocked by Developer Architecture & Design
is blocked by Secure Software Development Practices (SSDP)
is blocked by Security, Compliance & Resilience Testing Throughout Development
is blocked by Developer Configuration Management
is blocked by Developer-Provided Training
Impressum Deutsch Englisch