CAPEC-479: Malicious Root Certificate
Description
An adversary exploits a weakness in authorization and installs a new root certificate on a compromised system. Certificates are commonly used for establishing secure TLS/SSL communications within a web browser. When a user attempts to browse a website that presents a certificate that is not trusted an error message will be displayed to warn the user of the security risk. Depending on the security settings, the browser may not allow the user to establish a connection to the website. Adversaries have used this technique to avoid security warnings prompting users when compromised systems connect over HTTPS to adversary controlled web servers that spoof legitimate websites in order to collect login credentials.
- Likelihood of attack
- Low
- Typical severity
- Low
- Abstraction
- DetailedA low-level, detailed pattern, often for a particular technology.
Mechanism of attack: Engage in Deceptive Interactions
Prerequisites
- The adversary must have the ability to create a new root certificate.
Mitigations
CAPEC 3.9 lists no mitigation for this pattern; see its child patterns or related weaknesses.
Related weaknesses (CWE)
ATT&CK techniques (CAPEC taxonomy mapping)
Across MITRE's defensive frameworks
Linked through the 1 ATT&CK technique above.
Counter with D3FEND
Defensive techniques MITRE D3FEND maps to the same ATT&CK techniques.
Detect with CAR
MITRE CAR analytics that cover the same ATT&CK techniques.