This document discusses Windows access token manipulation. It begins by explaining what access tokens are and how they are used for authentication and access control in Windows. It then covers how to steal access tokens by opening processes, obtaining their tokens, and using the tokens to impersonate users or launch new processes. The document explores techniques for stealing the SYSTEM access token as well as finding alternative processes besides winlogon.exe that can be used. It determines that processes with certain security permissions on their access tokens can be stolen, while others cannot. The key learnings provide insights into Windows security principles and how access token theft can enable privilege escalation.

1. UNDERSTANDING
WINDOWS ACCESS
TOKEN MANIPULATION
Justin Bui (@slyd0g)
FINDING ALTERNATIVES TO
WINLOGON.EXE

2. WHO AM I?
▪ @slyd0g
▪ Red teamer at SpecterOps
▪ Interested in all things security
and skateboarding
2

3. GOALS
1. Windows authentication and access tokens
2. Understanding access token manipulation
3. Impersonating SYSTEM with access token theft
4. Finding alternatives to winlogon.exe
3

4. 1.
WINDOWS
AUTHENTICATION &
ACCESS TOKENS
What are access tokens? How do we
obtain them? What are they used for?

5. “An access token is an object
that describes the security
context of a process or
thread. The information in a
token includes the identity
and privileges of the user
account associated with the
process or thread.
5 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthz/access-tokens

6. SECURITY PRINCIPALS
- Security principals are any entity that can be
authenticated by the OS
- User accounts
- Computer accounts
- Security groups
- Processes/threads
- Basis of controlling access to securable objects in
Windows
- Represented in the OS by a unique security identifier
(SID)
6 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/security-principals

7. WINDOWS AUTHENTICATION
- User authenticates with credentials
- Logon session is created
- Windows returns user SID and group SIDs
- Local Security Authority (LSA) creates an access
token
- Successful authentication with credentials -> Logon
session -> Token -> Process/Thread
- Credentials may be stored in memory based on
logon type
7 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/security-principals

8. WINDOWS LOGON SCENARIOS
- Interactive logon (credentials in lsass.exe)
- Console login (type 2)
- RDP (type 10)
- PsExec (type 2)
- Network logon (credentials are not in memory)
- WMI (type 3)
- WinRM (type 3)
- Smart card logon
- Biometric logon
8 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/securing-privileged-access/securing-privileged-access-reference-material

9. WHAT IS AN ACCESS TOKEN?
- Kernel object that describes the security context of a
process/thread
- Contain the following information:
- User account security identifier (SID)
- Group SIDs
- Logon SID
- Owner SID
- List of privileges held by user/group
- Token integrity level
- Token type (primary/impersonation)
9 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthz/access-tokens

10. PURPOSE OF AN ACCESS TOKEN?
- Every process created by the user will receive a copy of
the access token
- When a thread attempts to access a securable object or
perform a task that requires privilege, Windows checks
the access token
- By default, a thread will use the primary token of a
process
10 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthz/access-tokens

11. ACCESS TOKENS IN ACTION
- Example: User opens PowerShell.exe and runs
Get-Content C:test.txt
- PowerShell.exe receives a copy of the user’s access token
- Thread running Get-Content uses PowerShell.exe’s
primary access token by default
- Files are a securable object in Windows!
- OS compares access token to discretionary access
control list (DACL) on C:test.txt
- If user has permission to read the file, access is
granted
11 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthz/access-control-lists

12. SUMMARY
- When a user successfully authenticates an access token
is created
- Every process created by the user will receive a copy
of the access token
- Windows checks the access token when a thread
attempts to access a securable object or perform a task
that requires privilege
- Attackers care about access tokens resulting from
interactive logons
12

13. 2.
ACCESS TOKEN
MANIPULATION
How do we steal an access token?

14. 14
STEALING ACCESS TOKENS

15. OPENPROCESS DOCS
15 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/processthreadsapi/nf-processthreadsapi-openprocess

16. 1 – OPENPROCESS
- Specify a process ID (PID)
- Request with one of the permissions:
- PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS
- PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION
- PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION
- Returns a process handle
- Allows us to interact with the process object
16 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/processthreadsapi/nf-processthreadsapi-openprocess

17. OPENPROCESSTOKEN DOCS
17 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/processthreadsapi/nf-processthreadsapi-openprocesstoken

18. 2 – OPENPROCESSTOKEN
- Pass in process handle from OpenProcess
- Permissions needed for ImpersonateLoggedOnUser:
- TOKEN_QUERY
- TOKEN_DUPLICATE
- Permissions needed for DuplicateTokenEx:
- TOKEN_DUPLICATE
- Returns a token handle
- Allows us to interact with the token object
18 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/processthreadsapi/nf-processthreadsapi-openprocesstoken

19. IMPERSONATELOGGEDONUSER DOCS
19 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/securitybaseapi/nf-securitybaseapi-impersonateloggedonuser

20. 3A – IMPERSONATELOGGEDONUSER
- Pass in token handle from OpenProcessToken
- Current thread will impersonate user specified by
access token
- Effectively “become” that user
- Interact with OS using impersonated
permissions :)
- RevertToSelf reverts impersonated permissions
20 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/securitybaseapi/nf-securitybaseapi-impersonateloggedonuser

21. DUPLICATETOKENEX DOCS
21 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/securitybaseapi/nf-securitybaseapi-duplicatetokenex

22. 3B – DUPLICATETOKENEX
- Pass in token handle from OpenProcessToken
- Permissions needed for
CreateProcessWithTokenW:
- TOKEN_QUERY
- TOKEN_DUPLICATE
- TOKEN_ASSIGN_PRIMARY
- TOKEN_ADJUST_DEFAULT
- TOKEN_ADJUST_SESSIONID
- Returns a new token handle useable with
CreateProcessWithTokenW
22 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/securitybaseapi/nf-securitybaseapi-duplicatetokenex

23. CREATEPROCESSWITHTOKENW DOCS
23 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winbase/nf-winbase-createprocesswithtokenw

24. 4 – CREATEPROCESSWITHTOKENW
- Pass in token handle from DuplicateTokenEx
- Takes path to executable, command line
arguments, logon type, STARTUPINFO structure
- Creates process with stolen access token!
24 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winbase/nf-winbase-createprocesswithtokenw

25. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
25 https://github.com/slyd0g/PrimaryTokenTheft

26. ATTACKER USE CASE
- Impersonate another user with running
processes from interactive logon
- Lateral movement
- Domain escalation
- Spawn processes as another user
- Impersonate SYSTEM
- Get all the privileges
26

27. 3.
IMPERSONATING
SYSTEM
Getting all the privileges

28. https://twitter.com/monoxgas/status/1109892490566336512
28

29. STEALING A SYSTEM TOKEN
29

30. 4.
ALTERNATIVES TO
WINLOGON.EXE
Do they exist? What security
permissions allow this?

31. METHODOLOGY
ASK A
QUESTION
CREATE A
CONCLUSION
PERFORM AN
EXPERIMENT
31
REPEAT

32. METHODOLOGY (CONT.)
1. Ask a question
- Do other processes like winlogon.exe exist?
2. Perform an experiment
- Bruteforce list of SYSTEM processes
3. Create a conclusion
- ???
32

33. Access denied during OpenProcess :(
33

34. Access denied during OpenProcessToken :(
34

35. Success! :)
35

36. CREATE A CONCLUSION
- Other SYSTEM processes can also have their
access token stolen!
- lsass.exe
- OfficeClickToRun.exe
- dllhost.exe
- unsecapp.exe
- Why does this work?
36
��

37. REPEAT
1. Ask a question
- What security settings cause this behavior?
2. Perform an experiment
- Compare winlogon.exe to “known good”
processes
3. Create a conclusion
- ???
37

38. https://twitter.com/monoxgas/status/1109892490566336512
38

39. COMPARING SESSION ID
39

40. ADVANCED SECURITY SETTINGS
40

41. ADVANCED SECURITY SETTINGS
41

42. ADVANCED SECURITY SETTINGS
42

43. SECURITY DESCRIPTORS
43

44. THE BREAKTHROUGH!
44

45. THE BREAKTHROUGH!
45

46. WHAT IS OWNER?
- Owner field in Process Explorer
refers to TokenOwner
- Value from
TOKEN_INFORMATION_CLASS
- Enumerate with
GetTokenInformation
46

47. GET-TOKEN.PS1
47
PowerShell script to enumerate all Process and
Thread tokens. Thanks vector-sec!

48. UserName vs OwnerName
- TOKEN_USER identifies the user associated
with the access token
- TOKEN_OWNER identifies the user who is
owner of any process created with the access
token
- This was the key distinction we were looking
for!
48

49. Get-Token | Where-Object {$_.UserName -eq ‘NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM’ -and
$_.OwnerName -ne ‘NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM’} | Select-Object
ProcessName,ProcessID | Format-Table49

50. CREATE A CONCLUSION
- Successful token theft
- winlogon.exe
- lsass.exe
- dllhost.exe
- unsecapp.exe
- svchost.exe
- ...
- Unsuccessful token theft
- csrss.exe
- services.exe
- smss.exe
- wininit.exe
- Memory
Compression.exe
- Why did these processes
fail?
50 ��

51. REPEAT
1. Ask a question
- What security settings cause this behavior?
2. Perform an experiment
- Look for a common property in the
‘problematic’ processes
3. Create a conclusion
- ???
51

52. Taking a look at wininit.exe and csrss.exe
52

53. OPENPROCESS ERRORS
53

54. OPENPROCESS ERRORS
54

55. PROTECTED
55

56. 56 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/procthread/process-security-and-access-rights

57. Will this work? Only one way to find out!
57

58. STEALING TOKEN FROM PPL PROCESS
58

59. IMPORTANCE OF CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS
59
Documentation for
OpenProcessToken and
OpenProcess 😹

60. CREATE A CONCLUSION
PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION
- winlogon.exe
- lsass.exe
- dllhost.exe
- unsecapp.exe
- svchost.exe (some PIDs)
- OfficeClickToRun.exe
- Sysmon64.exe
- VGAuthService.exe
- vmacthlp.exe
- vmtoolsd.exe
PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION
- csrss.exe
- services.exe
- smss.exe
- wininit.exe
- Memory Compression.exe
60

61. REFERENCES
- https://posts.specterops.io/understanding-and-defending-agai
nst-access-token-theft-finding-alternatives-to-winlogon-exe-
80696c8a73b
- https://github.com/slyd0g/PrimaryTokenTheft
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/
- https://ired.team/offensive-security/privilege-escalation/t1134
-access-token-manipulation
- https://twitter.com/monoxgas/status/1109892490566336512
- https://gist.github.com/vector-sec/a049bf12da619d9af8f9c7d
bd28d3b56
61

62. THANK YOU
- Big thanks to my coworkers Matt Graeber and Jared Atkinson for
helping me dig into these topics as well as pushing me to look
into some detections (which I unfortunately didn’t have time to
cover here)
- Thanks to Brian Reitz for the awesome THPS2 photoshop :D
- Thank you HushCon.
- Thank you for coming and listening!
62

63. THANK YOU!
Any questions?
You can find me at:
@slyd0g
justin@specterops.io
63