Skip to content
Start with Identity
Threat

Pass-the-Cookie

Pass-the-cookie is an attack in which a stolen, already-authenticated web session cookie is imported into the attacker's browser to take over the session, bypassing the password and MFA entirely; MITRE ATT&CK tracks the replay as T1550.004, Web Session Cookie and the theft as T1539, Steal Web Session Cookie.

Cookies are bearer credentials: whoever presents one is the user, for as long as the session lives. Infostealer malware harvests them in bulk from browser profiles, and adversary-in-the-middle phishing kits capture them in real time during a genuine MFA login, which is why phishing-resistant MFA alone does not stop the infostealer path. Defenses work on the session rather than the login: shorter sessions for sensitive apps, re-evaluation through signals such as CAEP, binding the session to a device key so a copied cookie fails elsewhere, which is what Chrome's Device Bound Session Credentials does, and revoking sessions, not just resetting passwords, after an infection.

See also: session cookie theft, session hijacking, Device Bound Session Credentials, infostealer, token theft, AiTM phishing proxy, CAEP

Last reviewed By SWI Community TeamSuggest a correctionHow we research