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Process Argument Spoofing - T1564.010 (ffe59ad3-ad9b-4b9f-b74f-5beb3c309dc1)

Adversaries may attempt to hide process command-line arguments by overwriting process memory. Process command-line arguments are stored in the process environment block (PEB), a data structure used by Windows to store various information about/used by a process. The PEB includes the process command-line arguments that are referenced when executing the process. When a process is created, defensive tools/sensors that monitor process creations may retrieve the process arguments from the PEB.(Citation: Microsoft PEB 2021)(Citation: Xpn Argue Like Cobalt 2019)

Adversaries may manipulate a process PEB to evade defenses. For example, Process Hollowing can be abused to spawn a process in a suspended state with benign arguments. After the process is spawned and the PEB is initialized (and process information is potentially logged by tools/sensors), adversaries may override the PEB to modify the command-line arguments (ex: using the Native API WriteProcessMemory() function) then resume process execution with malicious arguments.(Citation: Cobalt Strike Arguments 2019)(Citation: Xpn Argue Like Cobalt 2019)(Citation: Nviso Spoof Command Line 2020)

Adversaries may also execute a process with malicious command-line arguments then patch the memory with benign arguments that may bypass subsequent process memory analysis.(Citation: FireEye FiveHands April 2021)

This behavior may also be combined with other tricks (such as Parent PID Spoofing) to manipulate or further evade process-based detections.

Cluster A Galaxy A Cluster B Galaxy B Level
Hide Artifacts - T1564 (22905430-4901-4c2a-84f6-98243cb173f8) Attack Pattern Process Argument Spoofing - T1564.010 (ffe59ad3-ad9b-4b9f-b74f-5beb3c309dc1) Attack Pattern 1