Adversaries may attempt to steal Kerberos tickets stored in credential cache files (or ccache). These files are used for short term storage of a user's active session credentials. The ccache file is created upon user authentication and allows for access to multiple services without the user having to re-enter credentials.

The /etc/krb5.conf configuration file and the KRB5CCNAME environment variable are used to set the storage location for ccache entries. On Linux, credentials are typically stored in the /tmp directory with a naming format of krb5cc_%UID% or krb5.ccache. On macOS, ccache entries are stored by default in memory with an API:{uuid} naming scheme. Typically, users interact with ticket storage using kinit, which obtains a Ticket-Granting-Ticket (TGT) for the principal; klist, which lists obtained tickets currently held in the credentials cache; and other built-in binaries.^[1],[2]

Adversaries can collect tickets from ccache files stored on disk and authenticate as the current user without their password to perform Pass the Ticket attacks. Adversaries can also use these tickets to impersonate legitimate users with elevated privileges to perform Privilege Escalation. Tools like Kekeo can also be used by adversaries to convert ccache files to Windows format for further Lateral Movement. On macOS, adversaries may use open-source tools or the Kerberos framework to interact with ccache files and extract TGTs or Service Tickets via lower-level APIs.^{[3],[4],[5],[6]}

References

1. Adepts of 0xCC. (2021, January 28). The Kerberos Credential Thievery Compendium (GNU/Linux). Retrieved September 17, 2024.
2. ARC Labs, Dwyer, John. Gonzalez, Eric. Hudak, Tyler. (2024, October 1). Shining a Light in the Dark – How Binary Defense Uncovered an APT Lurking in Shadows of IT. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
3. Cody Thomas. (2019, November 14). When Kirbi walks the Bifrost. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
4. Trevor Haskell. (2020, April 1). Kerberos Tickets on Linux Red Teams. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
5. Tim Wadhwa-Brown. (2018, November). Where 2 worlds collide Bringing Mimikatz et al to UNIX. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
6. Benjamin Delpy. (n.d.). Kekeo. Retrieved October 4, 2021.

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