T1134.003 - Make and Impersonate Token

Sub-technique
Tactics:
Privilege Escalation Defense Evasion
Platforms:
Windows
Detection:
Not specified
Description:
Adversaries may make new tokens and impersonate users to escalate privileges and bypass access controls. For example, if an adversary has a username and password but the user is not logged onto the system the adversary can then create a logon session for the user using the `LogonUser` function.(Citation: LogonUserW function) The function will return a copy of the new session's access token and the adversary can use `SetThreadToken` to assign the token to a thread.

This behavior is distinct from [Token Impersonation/Theft](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1134/001) in that this refers to creating a new user token instead of stealing or duplicating an existing one.
Metadata
MITRE ID: T1134.003
STIX ID: attack-pattern--8cdeb020-e31e-...
Platforms: Windows
Created: 13/01/2026 17:48
Updated: 06/03/2026 16:00