T1490.md

T1490 - Inhibit System Recovery

Description from ATT&CK

Adversaries may delete or remove built-in operating system data and turn off services designed to aid in the recovery of a corrupted system to prevent recovery.(Citation: Talos Olympic Destroyer 2018)(Citation: FireEye WannaCry 2017) Operating systems may contain features that can help fix corrupted systems, such as a backup catalog, volume shadow copies, and automatic repair features. Adversaries may disable or delete system recovery features to augment the effects of [Data Destruction](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1485) and [Data Encrypted for Impact](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1486).(Citation: Talos Olympic Destroyer 2018)(Citation: FireEye WannaCry 2017)

A number of native Windows utilities have been used by adversaries to disable or delete system recovery features:

• vssadmin.exe can be used to delete all volume shadow copies on a system - vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet
• Windows Management Instrumentation can be used to delete volume shadow copies - wmic shadowcopy delete
• wbadmin.exe can be used to delete the Windows Backup Catalog - wbadmin.exe delete catalog -quiet
• bcdedit.exe can be used to disable automatic Windows recovery features by modifying boot configuration data - bcdedit.exe /set {default} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures & bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no

Atomic Tests

• Atomic Test #1 - Windows - Delete Volume Shadow Copies

• Atomic Test #2 - Windows - Delete Volume Shadow Copies via WMI

• Atomic Test #3 - Windows - Delete Windows Backup Catalog

• Atomic Test #4 - Windows - Disable Windows Recovery Console Repair

• Atomic Test #5 - Windows - Delete Volume Shadow Copies via WMI with PowerShell

• Atomic Test #6 - Windows - Delete Backup Files

Atomic Test #1 - Windows - Delete Volume Shadow Copies

Deletes Windows Volume Shadow Copies. This technique is used by numerous ransomware families and APT malware such as Olympic Destroyer. Upon execution, if no shadow volumes exist the message "No items found that satisfy the query." will be displayed. If shadow volumes are present, it will delete them without printing output to the screen. This is because the /quiet parameter was passed which also suppresses the y/n confirmation prompt. Shadow copies can only be created on Windows server or Windows 8.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/cc788055(v=ws.11)

Supported Platforms: Windows

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet

Dependencies: Run with powershell!

Description: Create volume shadow copy of C:\ . This prereq command only works on Windows Server or Windows 8.

Check Prereq Commands:

if(!(vssadmin.exe list shadows | findstr "No items found that satisfy the query.")) { exit 0 } else { exit 1 } 

Get Prereq Commands:

vssadmin.exe create shadow /for=c:

Atomic Test #2 - Windows - Delete Volume Shadow Copies via WMI

Deletes Windows Volume Shadow Copies via WMI. This technique is used by numerous ransomware families and APT malware such as Olympic Destroyer. Shadow copies can only be created on Windows server or Windows 8.

Supported Platforms: Windows

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

wmic.exe shadowcopy delete

Atomic Test #3 - Windows - Delete Windows Backup Catalog

Deletes Windows Backup Catalog. This technique is used by numerous ransomware families and APT malware such as Olympic Destroyer. Upon execution, "The backup catalog has been successfully deleted." will be displayed in the PowerShell session.

Supported Platforms: Windows

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

wbadmin.exe delete catalog -quiet

Atomic Test #4 - Windows - Disable Windows Recovery Console Repair

Disables repair by the Windows Recovery Console on boot. This technique is used by numerous ransomware families and APT malware such as Olympic Destroyer. Upon execution, "The operation completed successfully." will be displayed in the powershell session.

Supported Platforms: Windows

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

bcdedit.exe /set {default} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures
bcdedit.exe /set {default} recoveryenabled no

Cleanup Commands:

bcdedit.exe /set {default} bootstatuspolicy DisplayAllFailures >nul 2>&1
bcdedit.exe /set {default} recoveryenabled yes >nul 2>&1

Atomic Test #5 - Windows - Delete Volume Shadow Copies via WMI with PowerShell

Deletes Windows Volume Shadow Copies with PowerShell code and Get-WMIObject. This technique is used by numerous ransomware families such as Sodinokibi/REvil. Executes Get-WMIObject. Shadow copies can only be created on Windows server or Windows 8, so upon execution there may be no output displayed.

Supported Platforms: Windows

Attack Commands: Run with powershell! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

Get-WmiObject Win32_Shadowcopy | ForEach-Object {$_.Delete();}

Atomic Test #6 - Windows - Delete Backup Files

Deletes backup files in a manner similar to Ryuk ransomware. Upon exection, many "access is denied" messages will appear as the commands try to delete files from around the system.

Supported Platforms: Windows

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

del /s /f /q c:\*.VHD c:\*.bac c:\*.bak c:\*.wbcat c:\*.bkf c:\Backup*.* c:\backup*.* c:\*.set c:\*.win c:\*.dsk