MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Description
Adversaries may “pass the ticket” using stolen Kerberos tickets to move laterally within an environment, bypassing normal system access controls. Pass the ticket (PtT) is a method of authenticating to a system using Kerberos tickets without having access to an account's password. Kerberos authentication can be used as the first step to lateral movement to a remote system. When preforming PtT, valid Kerberos tickets for [Valid Accounts](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1078) are captured by [OS Credential Dumping](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003). A user's service tickets or ticket granting ticket (TGT) may be obtained, depending on the level of access. A service ticket allows for access to a particular resource, whereas a TGT can be used to request service tickets from the Ticket Granting Service (TGS) to access any resource the user has privileges to access.(Citation: ADSecurity AD Kerberos Attacks)(Citation: GentilKiwi Pass the Ticket) A [Silver Ticket](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1558/002) can be obtained for services that use Kerberos as an authentication mechanism and are used to generate tickets to access that particular resource and the system that hosts the resource (e.g., SharePoint).(Citation: ADSecurity AD Kerberos Attacks) A [Golden Ticket](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1558/001) can be obtained for the domain using the Key Distribution Service account KRBTGT account NTLM hash, which enables generation of TGTs for any account in Active Directory.(Citation: Campbell 2014) Adversaries may also create a valid Kerberos ticket using other user information, such as stolen password hashes or AES keys. For example, "overpassing the hash" involves using a NTLM password hash to authenticate as a user (i.e. [Pass the Hash](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1550/002)) while also using the password hash to create a valid Kerberos ticket.(Citation: Stealthbits Overpass-the-Hash)
Supported Platforms
Created
April 29, 2026
Last Updated
April 29, 2026
STIX Data
{'created': '2020-01-30T17:03:43.072Z',
'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
'description': 'Adversaries may “pass the ticket” using stolen Kerberos '
'tickets to move laterally within an environment, bypassing '
'normal system access controls. Pass the ticket (PtT) is a '
'method of authenticating to a system using Kerberos tickets '
"without having access to an account's password. Kerberos "
'authentication can be used as the first step to lateral '
'movement to a remote system.\n'
'\n'
'When preforming PtT, valid Kerberos tickets for [Valid '
'Accounts](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1078) are '
'captured by [OS Credential '
"Dumping](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003). A user's "
'service tickets or ticket granting ticket (TGT) may be '
'obtained, depending on the level of access. A service ticket '
'allows for access to a particular resource, whereas a TGT can '
'be used to request service tickets from the Ticket Granting '
'Service (TGS) to access any resource the user has privileges '
'to access.(Citation: ADSecurity AD Kerberos '
'Attacks)(Citation: GentilKiwi Pass the Ticket)\n'
'\n'
'A [Silver '
'Ticket](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1558/002) can be '
'obtained for services that use Kerberos as an authentication '
'mechanism and are used to generate tickets to access that '
'particular resource and the system that hosts the resource '
'(e.g., SharePoint).(Citation: ADSecurity AD Kerberos '
'Attacks)\n'
'\n'
'A [Golden '
'Ticket](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1558/001) can be '
'obtained for the domain using the Key Distribution Service '
'account KRBTGT account NTLM hash, which enables generation of '
'TGTs for any account in Active Directory.(Citation: Campbell '
'2014)\n'
'\n'
'Adversaries may also create a valid Kerberos ticket using '
'other user information, such as stolen password hashes or AES '
'keys. For example, "overpassing the hash" involves using a '
'NTLM password hash to authenticate as a user (i.e. [Pass the '
'Hash](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1550/002)) while '
'also using the password hash to create a valid Kerberos '
'ticket.(Citation: Stealthbits Overpass-the-Hash)',
'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1550.003',
'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1550/003'},
{'description': 'Abolins, D., Boldea, C., Socha, K., '
'Soria-Machado, M. (2016, April 26). '
'Kerberos Golden Ticket Protection. '
'Retrieved July 13, 2017.',
'source_name': 'CERT-EU Golden Ticket Protection',
'url': 'https://cert.europa.eu/static/WhitePapers/UPDATED%20-%20CERT-EU_Security_Whitepaper_2014-007_Kerberos_Golden_Ticket_Protection_v1_4.pdf'},
{'description': 'Campbell, C. (2014). The Secret Life '
'of Krbtgt. Retrieved November 17, '
'2024.',
'source_name': 'Campbell 2014',
'url': 'https://defcon.org/images/defcon-22/dc-22-presentations/Campbell/DEFCON-22-Christopher-Campbell-The-Secret-Life-of-Krbtgt.pdf'},
{'description': 'Deply, B. (2014, January 13). Pass '
'the ticket. Retrieved September 12, '
'2024.',
'source_name': 'GentilKiwi Pass the Ticket',
'url': 'https://web.archive.org/web/20210515214027/https://blog.gentilkiwi.com/securite/mimikatz/pass-the-ticket-kerberos'},
{'description': 'Metcalf, S. (2014, November 22). '
'Mimikatz and Active Directory '
'Kerberos Attacks. Retrieved June 2, '
'2016.',
'source_name': 'ADSecurity AD Kerberos Attacks',
'url': 'https://adsecurity.org/?p=556'},
{'description': 'Warren, J. (2019, February 26). How '
'to Detect Overpass-the-Hash Attacks. '
'Retrieved February 4, 2021.',
'source_name': 'Stealthbits Overpass-the-Hash',
'url': 'https://stealthbits.com/blog/how-to-detect-overpass-the-hash-attacks/'}],
'id': 'attack-pattern--7b211ac6-c815-4189-93a9-ab415deca926',
'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
'phase_name': 'defense-evasion'},
{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
'phase_name': 'lateral-movement'}],
'modified': '2025-10-24T17:48:59.861Z',
'name': 'Pass the Ticket',
'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
'revoked': False,
'spec_version': '2.1',
'type': 'attack-pattern',
'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
'x_mitre_contributors': ['Vincent Le Toux', 'Ryan Becwar'],
'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
'x_mitre_detection': '',
'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
'x_mitre_is_subtechnique': True,
'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
'x_mitre_platforms': ['Windows'],
'x_mitre_version': '1.2'}