Change Default File Association - T1546.001

(ATT&CK® Technique)

Definition

Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by a file type association. When a file is opened, the default program used to open the file (also called the file association or handler) is checked. File association selections are stored in the Windows Registry and can be edited by users, administrators, or programs that have Registry access or by administrators using the built-in assoc utility. Applications can modify the file association for a given file extension to call an arbitrary program when a file with the given extension is opened.

D3FEND Inferred Relationships

Browse the D3FEND knowledge graph by clicking on the nodes below.

        graph LR;

     T1546001["Change Default File Association"] --> |modifies| SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord["System Configuration Database Record"]; class T1546001 OffensiveTechniqueNode;
        class SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord ArtifactNode; click SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord href "/dao/artifact/d3f:SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord";
        click T1546001 href "/offensive-technique/attack/T1546.001/"; click SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord href "/dao/artifact/d3f:SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord";              RestoreConfiguration["Restore Configuration"] -->
          | restores | SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord["System Configuration Database Record"];

          RestoreConfiguration["Restore Configuration"] -.->
            | may-restore | T1546001["Change Default File Association"] ;
          class RestoreConfiguration DefensiveTechniqueNode;
          class SystemConfigurationDatabaseRecord ArtifactNode;
          click RestoreConfiguration href "/technique/d3f:RestoreConfiguration";

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