Evil twin + captive portal → credential harvest
Spoof the corporate SSID with a stronger signal and a captive portal that looks like the company AD login. Auto-connecting clients submit creds to the attacker page.
§ Context
Assumed environment: target SSID is open / WPA2-PSK and devices auto-reconnect. Attacker is in physical range with high-gain antenna + ESP32-class device or laptop.
§ Steps
- 01Capture creds via portal pageInitial AccessT1078— Valid Accounts
- 02Validate creds against domainCredential AccessW-AUTH-STUFFING— Credential Stuffing
- 03Enumerate target SSID + clientsReconnaissanceN-ARP-RECON— ARP Sweep / LAN Discovery
- 04Spin up rogue AP, same SSID, captive portalInitial AccessWIFI-EVIL-TWIN— Evil Twin / Rogue AP
- 05Deauth clients off the legitimate APImpactWIFI-DEAUTH— Deauthentication DoS
§ References
- T1078Valid Accounts
§ Frequently asked
- What is the "Evil twin + captive portal → credential harvest" attack path?
- Spoof the corporate SSID with a stronger signal and a captive portal that looks like the company AD login. Auto-connecting clients submit creds to the attacker page. It chains 5 steps drawn from real-world offensive-security techniques.
- What starting position does this attack require?
- The first step is Capture creds via portal page (T1078) — a initial access primitive. Assumed environment: target SSID is open / WPA2-PSK and devices auto-reconnect.
- What is the final impact of this kill-chain?
- The final step lands on Deauth clients off the legitimate AP (WIFI-DEAUTH), which falls under Impact. From here, an operator typically pivots into post-exploitation or maintains persistence.
- How can defenders detect or prevent this attack?
- Detection and prevention vary per step. Refer to each linked MITRE ATT&CK entry under "References" — every technique on that page lists defensive controls, detection telemetry, and known threat-actor usage.
§ Related dossiers
- Shared techniques3
WPA2-PSK handshake capture + crack → LAN access
Deauth a connected client to force re-association, capture the 4-way handshake with airodump-ng, crack the PSK offline with hashcat.
- Shared techniques2
Leaked legacy VPN credential → ransomware (Colonial-class)
A dormant VPN account whose password appeared in a third-party breach is still active, has no MFA enforced. Sign in, recon AD, deploy ransomware across the estate.
- Shared techniques2
MFA fatigue / prompt-bombing → M365 admin compromise
Attacker has the password (from breach / spray) but not MFA. Spam push approvals at 2 AM until the user taps yes out of habit — used in the Uber and 0ktapus breaches.
- Shared techniques2
802.1X NAC bypass via printer MAC spoof
Plug into the LAN, sniff a printer / IP-phone MAC, clone it on your laptop, get full LAN access via MAC-Auth-Bypass — bypass NAC entirely.