tfMITRE ATT&CK sub-technique

DHCP Spoofing T1557.003

sub-technique of T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle

Tactics: Credential Access, Collection
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Version: 1.1
Created: 24 March 2022
Last modified: 24 October 2025
Contributors: Alex Spivakovsky, Pentera; Andrew Allen, @whitehat_zero

Adversaries may redirect network traffic to adversary-owned systems by spoofing Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) traffic and acting as a malicious DHCP server on the victim network. By achieving the adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) position, adversaries may collect network communications, including passed credentials, especially those sent over insecure, unencrypted protocols. This may also enable follow-on behaviors such as Network Sniffing or Transmitted Data Manipulation.

ReconResource DevInitial AccessExecutionPersistencePriv EscStealthDef ImpairmentCred AccessDiscoveryLateral MoveCollectionC2ExfiltrationImpact

Threat groupsNone recorded

Threat groupsNone recorded · 29% of ATT&CK techniques have none either.

CampaignsNone recorded

CampaignsNone recorded · 54% of ATT&CK techniques have none either.

Tools & malwareNone recorded

Tools & malwareNone recorded · 29% of ATT&CK techniques have none either.

Detection rules42nd pct

Detection rules42nd percentile · 58% of ATT&CK techniques have more detection rules written.

Offense vs defense T1557.003

Is defensive coverage keeping up with adversary use? Eight counts, each ranked against all 697 ATT&CK techniques. Attack sits left, defense right, so a shape leaning left means adversaries are better documented here than defenders are equipped. Hover any spoke for its percentile and the share of techniques that have more. The timeline below shows when each side arrived.

How it got here

Range

Adversary activity (campaign spans) over cumulative rule output. Each source is plotted independently from zero, so neither line includes the other. Campaign dates are year-granularity.

Campaigns · 0Sigma rules (cumulative) · 1Splunk ESCU (cumulative) · 0

first rule: 2025 Q2

DHCP Spoofing detection strategy DET0468

MITRE names one behaviour worth catching for this technique and breaks it into 3 analytics, one per platform. Each carries the log sources it needs and the fields you tune per environment.

Detect DHCP Spoofing Across Linux, Windows, and macOS

Enterprise

3 platforms

AN1290 · Windows

Detects rogue DHCP server activity and anomalous DHCP OFFER/ACK messages assigning unexpected DNS or gateway values. Detection correlates DHCP server role changes, DHCP exhaustion warnings, and sudden network configuration changes across endpoints.

Log sources

The data this analytic draws on. You do not need every component — each one you already collect covers part of it. Each links to its ATT&CK record.

Data component	Name	Channel
Application Log ContentDC0038	WinEventLog:System	EventCode=1341, 1342, 1020, 1063
Network Traffic ContentDC0085	NSM:Flow	DHCP OFFER or ACK with unauthorized DNS/gateway parameters

Tunable fields

MITRE calls these the analytic’s mutable elements: the thresholds and filters you set for your own environment.

Field	What you tune
AuthorizedDHCPServers	List of known DHCP servers; unexpected sources are suspicious.
TimeWindow	Interval to correlate DHCP OFFER/ACK anomalies with subsequent misconfigurations.

AN1291 · Linux

Detects rogue DHCP activity by monitoring syslog for dhclient messages assigning unauthorized DNS/gateway values. Packet capture or IDS can detect multiple competing DHCP OFFERs from non-authorized servers.

Log sources

The data this analytic draws on. You do not need every component — each one you already collect covers part of it. Each links to its ATT&CK record.

Data component	Name	Channel
Application Log ContentDC0038	linux:syslog	suspicious DHCP lease assignment with unexpected DNS or gateway
Network Traffic FlowDC0078	NSM:Flow	Gratuitous or duplicate DHCP OFFER packets from non-legitimate servers

Tunable fields

MITRE calls these the analytic’s mutable elements: the thresholds and filters you set for your own environment.

Field	What you tune
AllowedDHCPMACs	Expected MAC addresses of DHCP servers on subnet.
DHCPLeaseChangeThreshold	Number of suspicious DHCP leases before raising an alert.

AN1292 · macOS

Detects DHCP spoofing by monitoring unified logs for unexpected DHCP ACK/OFFER parameters and correlating with packet captures for multiple DHCP servers. Behavioral emphasis is on inconsistent DNS and gateway assignments that redirect traffic.

Log sources

The data this analytic draws on. You do not need every component — each one you already collect covers part of it. Each links to its ATT&CK record.

Data component	Name	Channel
Application Log ContentDC0038	macos:unifiedlog	new DHCP configuration with anomalous DNS or router values
Network Traffic ContentDC0085	NSM:Flow	Multiple DHCP OFFER responses for a single DISCOVER

Tunable fields

MITRE calls these the analytic’s mutable elements: the thresholds and filters you set for your own environment.

Field	What you tune
BaselineDNS	Expected DNS server list; deviations may indicate spoofing.
AlertSensitivity	Threshold for number of anomalous DHCP responses before alerting.

DHCP Spoofing detections T1557.003

1 rule is mapped to this technique. Parent techniques also include their sub-techniques’ rules. Click a slice or key entry to filter the table.

42nd pctamong all ATT&CK techniques for number of rules

Product

Severity

Library

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