T1134

Access Token Manipulation

7 CVEs mapped

TA0004Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may modify access tokens to operate under a different user or system security context to perform actions and bypass access controls. Windows uses access tokens to determine the ownership of a running process. A user can manipulate access tokens to make a running process appear as though it is the child of a different process or belongs to someone other than the user that started the process. When this occurs, the process also takes on the security context associated with the new token. An adversary can use built-in Windows API functions to copy access tokens from existing processes; this is known as token stealing. These token can then be applied to an existing process (i.e. [Token Impersonation/Theft](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1134/001)) or used to spawn a new process (i.e. [Create Process with Token](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1134/002)). An adversary must already be in a privileged user context (i.e. administrator) to steal a token. However, adversaries commonly use token stealing to elevate their security context from the administrator level to the SYSTEM level. An adversary can then use a token to authenticate to a remote system as the account for that token if the account has appropriate permissions on the remote system.(Citation: Pentestlab Token Manipulation) Any standard user can use the <code>runas</code> command, and the Windows API functions, to create impersonation tokens; it does not require access to an administrator account. There are also other mechanisms, such as Active Directory fields, that can be used to modify access tokens.

Platforms1

Windows

CVEs mapped to this technique7

CVE	Description	Severity	EPSS	Flags	Modified
CVE-2025-48703	CWP (aka Control Web Panel or CentOS Web Panel) before 0.9.8.1205 allows unauthenticated remote code execution via shell metacharacters in the t_total parameter in a filemanager changePerm request. A valid non-root username must be known.	CRITICAL9.0	100%p100	KEVPoC	2026-02-26
CVE-2008-4250	The Server service in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 and SP3, Server 2003 SP1 and SP2, Vista Gold and SP1, Server 2008, and 7 Pre-Beta allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted RPC request that triggers the overflow during path canonicalization, as exploited in the wild by Gimmiv.A in October 2008, aka "Server Service Vulnerability."	CRITICAL9.8	99%p100	KEVWeaponized	2026-05-21
CVE-2025-47812	In Wing FTP Server before 7.4.4. the user and admin web interfaces mishandle '\0' bytes, ultimately allowing injection of arbitrary Lua code into user session files. This can be used to execute arbitrary system commands with the privileges of the FTP service (root or SYSTEM by default). This is thus a remote code execution vulnerability that guarantees a total server compromise. This is also exploitable via anonymous FTP accounts.	CRITICAL10.0	95%p100	KEVWeaponized	2026-02-26
CVE-2014-3931	fastping.c in MRLG (aka Multi-Router Looking Glass) before 5.5.0 allows remote attackers to cause an arbitrary memory write and memory corruption.	CRITICAL9.8	27%p98	KEV	2026-04-21
CVE-2026-33825	Insufficient granularity of access control in Microsoft Defender allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.	HIGH7.8	6.22%p93	KEVPoC	2026-06-19
CVE-2026-42897	Improper neutralization of input during web page generation ('cross-site scripting') in Microsoft Exchange Server allows an unauthorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network.	MEDIUM6.1	2.51%p83	KEVPoC	2026-06-19
CVE-2020-0981	A security feature bypass vulnerability exists when Windows fails to properly handle token relationships.An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could allow an application with a certain integrity level to execute code at a different integrity level, leading to a sandbox escape.The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Windows handles token relationships, aka 'Windows Token Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability'.	HIGH8.8	1.24%p65		2024-11-21