Adversaries may exploit a software vulnerability to take advantage of a programming error in a program, service, or within the operating system software or kernel itself to evade detection. Vulnerabilities may exist in software that can be used to disable or circumvent security features.
Adversaries may have prior knowledge through Remote System Information Discovery about security features implemented on control devices. These device security features will likely be targeted directly for exploitation. There are examples of firmware RAM/ROM consistency checks on control devices being targeted by adversaries to enable the installation of malicious System Firmware.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S1009 | Triton |
Triton disables a firmware RAM/ROM consistency check after injects a payload (imain.bin) into the firmware memory region. [1] [2] [3] Triconex systems include continuous means of detection including checksums for firmware and program integrity, memory and memory reference integrity, and configuration. [4] |
| ID | Mitigation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M0948 | 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. [5] |
| M0950 | 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. [6] Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploit from occurring. [7] Many of these protections depend on the architecture and target application binary for compatibility and may not work for all software or services targeted. |
| M0919 | 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. |
| M0951 | Update Software |
Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers. |
| ID | Name | Analytic ID | Analytic Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| DET0795 | Detection of Exploitation for Evasion | AN1927 |
Real-time monitoring identifies malformed or out-of-spec ICS protocol exchanges targeting an embedded device from a source outside the approved communication baseline. OT operational-fidelity gate: Alert only when execution violates an approved signer/hash/path/parent/process or tool allowlist, or originates from an unauthorized user/tool, and is tied to an OT asset or follow-on OT-relevant action. Suppress vendor-signed software, approved engineering utilities, diagnostics, patching, backup, and documented maintenance. |
| AN2154 |
Real-time monitoring identifies ptrace syscalls or /proc/pid/mem write operations targeting Industrial Control System (ICS) service processes from a process that is not a debugger or vendor diagnostic tool. OT operational-fidelity gate: Alert only when execution violates an approved signer/hash/path/parent/process or tool allowlist, or originates from an unauthorized user/tool, and is tied to an OT asset or follow-on OT-relevant action. Suppress vendor-signed software, approved engineering utilities, diagnostics, patching, backup, and documented maintenance. |
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| AN2199 |
Real-time monitoring identifies Industrial Control System (ICS) network device syslog recording unexpected restarts or crashes coinciding with anomalous traffic patterns on management interfaces. OT operational-fidelity gate: Alert only when execution violates an approved signer/hash/path/parent/process or tool allowlist, or originates from an unauthorized user/tool, and is tied to an OT asset or follow-on OT-relevant action. Suppress vendor-signed software, approved engineering utilities, diagnostics, patching, backup, and documented maintenance. |
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| AN2279 |
Real-time monitoring identifies an Industrial Control System (ICS) vendor process crashing unexpectedly, immediately preceded by an unusual cross-process memory access event from a process outside the recognized security/diagnostic tool allowlist. OT operational-fidelity gate: Alert only when execution violates an approved signer/hash/path/parent/process or tool allowlist, or originates from an unauthorized user/tool, and is tied to an OT asset or follow-on OT-relevant action. Suppress vendor-signed software, approved engineering utilities, diagnostics, patching, backup, and documented maintenance. |