Techniques › T1555 › T1555.002
T1555.002 Securityd Memory
credential access — Linux, macOS · attack.mitre.org · JSON
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MITRE detection strategy
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analytics
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Sigma rules tagged attack.t1555.002
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KEV CVEs mapped here
<p>An adversary with root access may gather credentials by reading
securityd’s memory. securityd is a service/daemon responsible for implementing security protocols such as encryption and authorization. A privileged adversary may be able to scan through securityd's memory to find the correct sequence of keys to decrypt the user’s logon keychain. This may provide the adversary with various plaintext passwords, such as those for users, WiFi, mail, browsers, certificates, secure notes, etc.</p><p>In OS X prior to El Capitan, users with root access can read plaintext keychain passwords of logged-in users because Apple’s keychain implementation allows these credentials to be cached so that users are not repeatedly prompted for passwords. Apple’s securityd utility takes the user’s logon password, encrypts it with PBKDF2, and stores this master key in memory. Apple also uses a set of keys and algorithms to encrypt the user’s password, but once the master key is found, an adversary need only iterate over the other values to unlock the final password.</p>KEV CVEs mapped to this technique · CTID Mappings Explorer
None. No KEV entry in the public mapping names this technique. Given that 74.7% of KEV has no mapping at all, this says more about the mapping than about the technique.
Detection strategy · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2
- DET0057 Detect Suspicious Access to securityd Memory for Credential Extraction v1.0
AN0156 macOSDetects suspicious memory access attempts targeting the
securitydprocess. Observes tools invoking process memory read operations (e.g., ptrace, task_for_pid) againstsecurityd. Correlates with anomalous parent process lineage, root privilege escalation, or repeated unauthorized attempts.macos:unifiedlogexecution of memory inspection tools (lldb, gdb, osqueryi)→ DC0032 Process CreationTunable:AllowedDebuggersTimeWindowPrivilegedUsersAN0157 LinuxDetects adversaries attempting to attach debuggers or memory dump utilities to credential storage daemons analogous to macOSsecurityd. Observes ptrace syscalls, /proc/<pid>/mem access, or gcore dumps against sensitive processes. Correlates anomalies with privilege escalation or credential dumping attempts.Tunable:MonitoredProcessesCorrelationDepthPrivilegeContext
Sigma rules · SigmaHQ da9bb07d64, tag attack.t1555.002
No Sigma rule carries this tag. MITRE publishes a detection strategy above, so the behaviour is specified; what is missing is public detection content.
Rules tagged at the parent level (attack.t1555) 8
These target the parent technique, not this sub-technique specifically. Listed for completeness, not counted as coverage.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2021-07-14 (modified 2022-07-14) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 58f4ea09-0fc2-4520-ba18-b85c540b0eaf
Detects a suspicious process pattern which could be a sign of an exploited Serv-U service
Author: frack113
· 2021-12-20 (modified 2022-12-25) · logsource: product=windows category=ps_script · 603c6630-5225-49c1-8047-26c964553e0e
Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.
Passwords are stored in several places on a system, depending on the operating system or application holding the credentials.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2018-12-19 (modified 2023-02-04) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 7679d464-4f74-45e2-9e01-ac66c5eb041a
Detects the execution of SecurityXploded Tools
Author: Nounou Mbeiri, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2024-06-26 · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 7892ec59-c5bb-496d-8968-e5d210ca3ac4
Detects file names with specific patterns seen generated and used by tools such as Mimikatz and DSInternals related to exported or stolen DPAPI backup keys and certificates.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel
· 2023-12-04 · logsource: product=windows category=ps_script · 851fd622-b675-4d26-b803-14bc7baa517a
Detects scriptblock text keywords indicative of potential usge of the tool WinPwn. A tool for Windows and Active Directory reconnaissance and exploitation.
Author: frack113
· 2021-12-20 (modified 2022-12-25) · logsource: product=windows category=ps_script · 99c49d9c-34ea-45f7-84a7-4751ae6b2cbc
Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.
Passwords are stored in several places on a system, depending on the operating system or application holding the credentials.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
· 2025-10-21 · logsource: product=aws service=cloudtrail · a840e606-7c8c-4684-9bc1-eb6b6155127f
Detects the execution of TruffleHog, a popular open-source tool used for scanning repositories for secrets and sensitive information, within an AWS environment.
It has been reported to be used by threat actors for credential harvesting. All detections should be investigated to determine if the usage is authorized by security teams or potentially malicious.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel
· 2023-12-04 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · d557dc06-62e8-4468-a8e8-7984124908ce
Detects commandline keywords indicative of potential usge of the tool WinPwn. A tool for Windows and Active Directory reconnaissance and exploitation.