Remote Service Session Hijacking: RDP Hijacking
- ID
- T1563.002
- Tactics
- TA0008 Lateral Movement
- Sub-technique of
- T1563 Remote Service Session Hijacking
- Platforms
- Windows
- Data sources
- Logon Session Creation, Process Creation, Network Connection Creation, Service Creation
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 25 Oct 2025
Adversaries may hijack a legitimate user’s remote desktop session to move laterally within an environment. Remote desktop is a common feature in operating systems. It allows a user to log into an interactive session with a system desktop graphical user interface on a remote system. Microsoft refers to its implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) as Remote Desktop Services (RDS).[2]
Adversaries may perform RDP session hijacking which involves stealing a legitimate user's remote session. Typically, a user is notified when someone else is trying to steal their session. With System permissions and using Terminal Services Console, c:\windows\system32\tscon.exe [session number to be stolen], an adversary can hijack a session without the need for credentials or prompts to the user.[3] This can be done remotely or locally and with active or disconnected sessions.[4] It can also lead to Remote System Discovery and Privilege Escalation by stealing a Domain Admin or higher privileged account session. All of this can be done by using native Windows commands, but it has also been added as a feature in red teaming tools.[5]
Detection
- DET0588 Detection of Remote Service Session Hijacking for RDP.
Data components: Logon Session Creation, Process Creation, Network Connection Creation, Service Creation
Mitigations (7)
- M1018 User Account Management
Limit remote user permissions if remote access is necessary.
- M1026 Privileged Account Management
Consider removing the local Administrators group from the list of groups allowed to log in through RDP.
- M1028 Operating System Configuration
Change GPOs to define shorter timeouts sessions and maximum amount of time any single session can be active. Change GPOs to specify the maximum amount of time that a disconnected session stays active on the RD session host server.[1]
- M1030 Network Segmentation
Enable firewall rules to block RDP traffic between network security zones within a network.
- M1035 Limit Access to Resource Over Network
Use remote desktop gateways.
- M1042 Disable or Remove Feature or Program
Disable the RDP service if it is unnecessary.
- M1047 Audit
Audit the Remote Desktop Users group membership regularly. Remove unnecessary accounts and groups from Remote Desktop Users groups.