Use Alternate Authentication Material: Pass the Hash

ID: T1550.002
Tactics: TA0008 Lateral Movement
Sub-technique of: T1550 Use Alternate Authentication Material
Platforms: Windows
Data sources: Logon Session Creation, Active Directory Credential Request, Network Connection Creation, Process Creation
Source: attack.mitre.org
MITRE last modified: 12 May 2026

Adversaries may “pass the hash” using stolen password hashes to move laterally within an environment, bypassing normal system access controls. Pass the hash (PtH) is a method of authenticating as a user without having access to the user's cleartext password. This method bypasses standard authentication steps that require a cleartext password, moving directly into the portion of the authentication that uses the password hash.

When performing PtH, valid password hashes for the account being used are captured using a Credential Access technique. Captured hashes are used with PtH to authenticate as that user. Once authenticated, PtH may be used to perform actions on local or remote systems.

Adversaries may also use stolen password hashes to "overpass the hash." Similar to PtH, this involves using a password hash to authenticate as a user but also uses the password hash to create a valid Kerberos ticket. This ticket can then be used to perform Pass the Ticket attacks.^[3]

Detection

DET0409 Detection Strategy for T1550.002 - Pass the Hash (Windows)
Data components: Logon Session Creation, Active Directory Credential Request, Network Connection Creation, Process Creation

Mitigations (4)

M1018 User Account Management

Do not allow a domain user to be in the local administrator group on multiple systems.

M1026 Privileged Account Management

Limit credential overlap across systems to prevent the damage of credential compromise and reduce the adversary's ability to perform Lateral Movement between systems.

M1051 Update Software

Apply patch KB2871997 to Windows 7 and higher systems to limit the default access of accounts in the local administrator group.^[1]

M1052 User Account Control

Enable pass the hash mitigations to apply UAC restrictions to local accounts on network logon. The associated Registry key is located HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy.

Through GPO: Computer Configuration > [Policies] > Administrative Templates > SCM: Pass the Hash Mitigations: Apply UAC restrictions to local accounts on network logons.^[2]

Groups (11)

Software (8)

References

NSA Spotting
GitHub IAD Secure Host Baseline UAC Filtering
Stealthbits Overpass-the-Hash