T1217 Browser Information Discovery

High-Level Description

Adversaries may enumerate information about browsers to learn more about compromised environments. Data saved by browsers (such as bookmarks, accounts, and browsing history) may reveal a variety of personal information about users (e.g., banking sites, relationships/interests, social media, etc.) as well as details about internal network resources such as servers, tools/dashboards, or other related infrastructure.

Browser information may also highlight additional targets after an adversary has access to valid credentials, especially Credentials In Files associated with logins cached by a browser.

Specific storage locations vary based on platform and/or application, but browser information is typically stored in local files and databases (e.g., %APPDATA%/Google/Chrome).

Kill Chain Phase

• Discovery (TA0007)

Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows

What to Check

• ] Identify if Browser Information Discovery technique is applicable to target environment
• ] Check Linux systems for indicators of Browser Information Discovery
• ] Check macOS systems for indicators of Browser Information Discovery
• ] Check Windows systems for indicators of Browser Information Discovery
• ] Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Atomic Red Team Tests

The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:

Atomic Test 1: List Mozilla Firefox Bookmark Database Files on FreeBSD/Linux

Searches for Mozilla Firefox's places.sqlite file (on FreeBSD or Linux distributions) that contains bookmarks and lists any found instances to a text file.

Supported Platforms: linux

bash
find / -path "*.mozilla/firefox/*/places.sqlite" 2>/dev/null -exec echo {} >> #{output_file} \;
cat #{output_file} 2>/dev/null

Atomic Test 2: List Mozilla Firefox Bookmark Database Files on macOS

Searches for Mozilla Firefox's places.sqlite file (on macOS) that contains bookmarks and lists any found instances to a text file.

Supported Platforms: macos

bash
find / -path "*/Firefox/Profiles/*/places.sqlite" -exec echo {} >> #{output_file} \;
cat #{output_file} 2>/dev/null

Atomic Test 3: List Google Chrome Bookmark JSON Files on macOS

Searches for Google Chrome's Bookmark file (on macOS) that contains bookmarks in JSON format and lists any found instances to a text file.

Supported Platforms: macos

bash
find / -path "*/Google/Chrome/*/Bookmarks" -exec echo {} >> #{output_file} \;
cat #{output_file} 2>/dev/null

Atomic Test 4: List Google Chromium Bookmark JSON Files on FreeBSD

Searches for Google Chromium's Bookmark file (on FreeBSD) that contains bookmarks in JSON format and lists any found instances to a text file.

Supported Platforms: linux

bash
find / -path "*/.config/chromium/*/Bookmarks" -exec echo {} >> #{output_file} \;
cat #{output_file} 2>/dev/null

Atomic Test 5: List Google Chrome / Opera Bookmarks on Windows with powershell

Searches for Google Chrome's and Opera's Bookmarks file (on Windows distributions) that contains bookmarks. Upon execution, paths that contain bookmark files will be displayed.

Supported Platforms: windows

powershell
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Users\ -Filter Bookmarks -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Force

Manual Testing

If Atomic Red Team tests are not applicable, manually verify the technique by:

1. Identify Attack Surface: Determine if the target environment is susceptible to Browser Information Discovery by examining the target platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows).

1. Assess Existing Defenses: Review whether mitigations for T1217 are in place. If defenses are absent or misconfigured, this technique may be exploitable.

1. Execute Test: Use tools and methods described in the MITRE ATT&CK page and external references below.

Remediation Guide

No specific mitigations documented for this technique.

Detection

Detection of Local Browser Artifact Access for Reconnaissance

Risk Assessment

| Finding | Severity | Impact | | -------------------------------------------------- | -------- | --------- | | Browser Information Discovery technique applicable | High | Discovery |

CWE Categories

| CWE ID | Title | | ------- | --------------------------------- | | CWE-200 | Exposure of Sensitive Information |

References

• Chrome Roaming Profiles
• Kaspersky Autofill
• Atomic Red Team - T1217
• MITRE ATT&CK - T1217