Platforms / Security resources

MITRE ATT&CK

Enterprise v20 / 15 tactics / 227 techniques / 479 sub-techniques

Credential Access / T1697

Steal Application Specific Passwords

Technique / Enterprise ATT&CK

Official MITRE entry

Adversaries may steal Application Specific Passwords (ASPs) to gain access to Valid Accounts, bypassing multifactor authentication (MFA) methods. ASPs are passwords typically used to give third-party applications or legacy devices (which do not support MFA methods) account access.(Citation: Application Specific Passwords)(Citation: Application Specific Passwords Push Sec)

An adversary may socially engineer a user into providing an ASP(Citation: UNC6293 ASP Creative Phishing Attack)(Citation: Application Specific Passwords Phishing) (using methods like Phishing for Information), generate an ASP for an already compromised account,(Citation: Mandiant APT42-untangling)(Citation: TAG APT42) or obtain an ASP stored on a system. Afterward, adversaries may use the ASP to access Valid Accounts and, in some cases, maintain Persistence, bypassing any form of MFA set on the account.

Source references

Source: MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v20, retrieved 2026-10-31. MITRE ATT&CK is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.