MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Defense Evasion T1078.003
Description

Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of a local account as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Local accounts are those configured by an organization for use by users, remote support, services, or for administration on a single system or service. Local Accounts may also be abused to elevate privileges and harvest credentials through [OS Credential Dumping](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003). Password reuse may allow the abuse of local accounts across a set of machines on a network for the purposes of Privilege Escalation and Lateral Movement.

Supported Platforms
Linux macOS Windows Containers Network Devices ESXi
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2020-03-13T20:26:46.695Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of a local '
                'account as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, '
                'Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Local accounts are '
                'those configured by an organization for use by users, remote '
                'support, services, or for administration on a single system '
                'or service.\n'
                '\n'
                'Local Accounts may also be abused to elevate privileges and '
                'harvest credentials through [OS Credential '
                'Dumping](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003). Password '
                'reuse may allow the abuse of local accounts across a set of '
                'machines on a network for the purposes of Privilege '
                'Escalation and Lateral Movement. ',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1078.003',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1078/003'}],
 'id': 'attack-pattern--fdc47f44-dd32-4b99-af5f-209f556f63c2',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'defense-evasion'},
                       {'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'persistence'},
                       {'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'privilege-escalation'},
                       {'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'initial-access'}],
 'modified': '2025-10-24T17:49:39.874Z',
 'name': 'Local Accounts',
 '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_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': ['Linux',
                       'macOS',
                       'Windows',
                       'Containers',
                       'Network Devices',
                       'ESXi'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.5'}
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