The process of elevating access rights within a compromised system using Cobalt Strike is a critical phase in post-exploitation activities. This involves escalating from a low-privileged user context, initially obtained during intrusion, to a higher-level account, potentially including administrative or system-level control. For example, a compromised standard user account might be used as a stepping stone to gain access as the ‘SYSTEM’ user on a Windows machine, thus granting near-unfettered control over the machine.
The significance of achieving elevated permissions lies in its ability to facilitate deeper network penetration, broader data exfiltration, and persistent presence within the targeted environment. Historically, attackers leveraged well-known operating system vulnerabilities and misconfigurations to bypass security controls and escalate privileges. The capability to escalate user permissions expands the attackers influence and allows for the execution of commands and deployment of tools that would otherwise be restricted.
