tfMITRE ATT&CK technique

Power Settings T1653

Tactic: Persistence
Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Network Devices
Version: 1.1
Created: 05 June 2023
Last modified: 24 October 2025
Contributors: Menachem Goldstein; Juan Tapiador

Adversaries may impair a system's ability to hibernate, reboot, or shut down in order to extend access to infected machines. When a computer enters a dormant state, some or all software and hardware may cease to operate which can disrupt malicious activity.[1]

ReconResource DevInitial AccessExecutionPersistencePriv EscStealthDef ImpairmentCred AccessDiscoveryLateral MoveCollectionC2ExfiltrationImpact

Threat groupsNone recorded

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

Campaigns72nd pct

Campaigns72nd percentile · 72% of ATT&CK techniques have this many campaigns recorded or fewer.

Tools & malware51st pct

Tools & malware51st percentile · 51% of ATT&CK techniques have this many tools implementing them or fewer.

Detection rules42nd pct

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

Power Settings MITRE reference T1653

72nd pctamong all ATT&CK techniques for number of campaigns

1 campaign has been recorded using this technique. Listed newest first; dates are year-granularity and attribution is MITRE’s.

ArcaneDoorC0046 ↗

Involved exploitation of CVE-2024-20353 to force a victim Cisco ASA to reboot, triggering the automated unzipping and execution of the Line Runner implant.1

2023–2024

All 1 campaigns for this technique

Offense vs defense T1653

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

first rule: 2025 Q4 · 1 of 1 campaigns plotted

Power Settings detection strategy DET0417

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.

Detection Strategy for Power Settings Abuse

Enterprise

3 platforms

AN1174 · Windows

Monitor command execution of powercfg.exe with arguments modifying sleep, hibernate, or display timeouts. Abnormal or repeated modifications to power settings outside administrative baselines may indicate persistence attempts. Correlate process creation with registry and system configuration changes to build behavioral chains.

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
Process CreationDC0032	WinEventLog:Security	EventCode=4688

Tunable fields

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

Field	What you tune
AllowedAdminTools	Whitelist expected administrative scripts that legitimately modify power settings.
TimeWindow	Correlation period between powercfg.exe invocation and registry/policy changes.

AN1175 · Linux

Detect execution of system utilities (systemctl, systemd-inhibit, systemdsleep) modifying sleep or hibernate behavior. Abnormal edits to system configuration files (e.g., /etc/systemd/sleep.conf) should be correlated with process execution to identify persistence techniques.

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
File ModificationDC0061	auditd:PATH	write: File modifications to /etc/systemd/sleep.conf or related power configuration files
Command ExecutionDC0064	auditd:SYSCALL	execve: Execution of systemctl, loginctl, or systemd-inhibit commands related to sleep/hibernate

Tunable fields

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

Field	What you tune
KnownMaintenanceWindows	Filter benign modifications during patching or system maintenance intervals.

AN1176 · macOS

Monitor pmset command executions altering sleep/hibernate/standby parameters. Unexpected modifications to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist or similar files should be correlated with process activity.

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
Process CreationDC0032	macos:unifiedlog	Process creation events where command line = pmset with arguments affecting sleep, hibernatemode, displaysleep
File ModificationDC0061	macos:unifiedlog	write: File modification to com.apple.PowerManagement.plist or related system preference files

Tunable fields

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

Field	What you tune
AdminWhitelists	Allowlist expected pmset invocations by IT administrators for power policy enforcement.

Power Settings detections T1653

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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