MITRE ATT&CK Technique
T1078Valid Accounts
- First Reported
- Sep 1, 2026
- Latest Reported
- Sep 30, 2026
Official Description
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop.(Citation: volexity_0day_sophos_FW) Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network. Adversaries may choose not to use malware or tools in conjunction with the legitimate access those credentials provide to make it harder to detect their presence.
In some cases, adversaries may abuse inactive accounts: for example, those belonging to individuals who are no longer part of an organization. Using these accounts may allow the adversary to evade detection, as the original account user will not be present to identify any anomalous activity taking place on their account.(Citation: CISA MFA PrintNightmare)
The overlap of permissions for local, domain, and cloud accounts across a network of systems is of concern because the adversary may be able to pivot across accounts and systems to reach a high level of access (i.e., domain or enterprise administrator) to bypass access controls set within the enterprise.(Citation: TechNet Credential Theft)
In some cases, adversaries may abuse inactive accounts: for example, those belonging to individuals who are no longer part of an organization. Using these accounts may allow the adversary to evade detection, as the original account user will not be present to identify any anomalous activity taking place on their account.(Citation: CISA MFA PrintNightmare)
The overlap of permissions for local, domain, and cloud accounts across a network of systems is of concern because the adversary may be able to pivot across accounts and systems to reach a high level of access (i.e., domain or enterprise administrator) to bypass access controls set within the enterprise.(Citation: TechNet Credential Theft)
- Tactics
- Stealth, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Initial Access
- Platforms
- Containers, ESXi, IaaS, Identity Provider, Linux, macOS, Network Devices, Office Suite, SaaS, Windows
- MITRE Version
- 3.0
- Last Modified
- May 12, 2026
Sub-techniques (4)
Reported Context (6)
- The source maps the requested local- or domain-level account access to Valid Accounts as an inference, not a verified intrusion method. Dark-Web Buyer Seeks Privileged Corporate Network Access Across Six Regions
- Attackers may obtain valid credentials and use them to enter a network before deploying ransomware. How Threat Intelligence Can Disrupt Ransomware Before Encryption
- Stolen or compromised credentials were used to obtain access across sectors. Report: Identity-Driven Attacks Dominate Australia and New Zealand Cyber Threat Landscape
- Wagenius and his co-conspirators used stolen credentials to break into cloud platforms. Former Army Soldier Sentenced to 70 Months for Cyberattacks on AT&T, Snowflake Customers and Others
- The attacker reportedly used credentials for compromised Italian government employee email accounts to send requests. Report: Revolut Hackers Used Infostealer-Stolen Government Credentials in Social-Engineering Scheme
CVE (3)
Malware (2)
Threat Actors (25)
MITRE ATT&CK (8)
Vendors (6)
Products (12)
Tools (1)
Industries (14)
Countries (19)
Note: Related entities, including threat actors, malware, CVEs, MITRE ATT&CK techniques, vendors, products, tools, countries, and industries, are shown when they appear in the same reporting. Their presence does not necessarily mean they were targeted, compromised, vulnerable, responsible for the activity, or directly involved in the incident.