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MITRE ATT&CK® Data Component

DC0059: File Metadata

contextual information about a file, including attributes such as the file's name, size, type, content (e.g., signatures, headers, media), user/owner, permissions, timestamps, and other related properties. File metadata provides insights into a file's characteristics and can be used to detect malicious activity, unauthorized modifications, or other anomalies. Examples:

- File Ownership and Permissions: Checking the owner and permissions of a critical configuration file like /etc/passwd on Linux or C:\Windows\System32\config\SAM on Windows. - Timestamps: Analyzing the creation, modification, and access timestamps of a file. - File Content and Signatures: Extracting the headers of an executable file to verify its signature or detect packing/obfuscation. - File Attributes: Analyzing attributes like hidden, system, or read-only flags in Windows. - File Hashes: Generating MD5, SHA-1, or SHA-256 hashes of files to compare against threat intelligence feeds. - File Location: Monitoring files located in unusual directories or paths, such as temporary or user folders.

EnterpriseDC0059Data ComponentObject v2.1Modified
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis

Security context for executives and security teams

Automation confidenceMedium

DC0059: File Metadata describes contextual information about a file, including attributes such as the file's name, size, type, content (e.g., signatures, headers, media), user/owner, permissions, timestamps, and other related properties. File metadata provides insights into a file's characteristics and can be used to detect malicious activity, unauthorized modifications, or other anomalies. Examples: - File Ownership and Permissions: Checking the owner and permissions of a critical configuration file like /etc/passwd on Linux or C:\Windows\System...

Executive priority

DC0059: File Metadata is an official MITRE ATT&CK data component. Glexia treats it as defensive behavior context for prioritizing monitoring, control validation, and response planning without using the object by itself as an attribution claim.

Technical view

Security teams should validate DC0059: File Metadata by reviewing the official ATT&CK relationships, mapped tactics (the mapped ATT&CK tactic context), supported platforms (the platforms named in the official object), and available local telemetry before making detection or mitigation decisions.

Likely telemetry

  • Official ATT&CK relationships and object metadata

Detection direction

  • Validate whether DC0059: File Metadata appears in your detection coverage and tabletop scenarios.
  • Use the object to align executive risk language with SOC, incident response, and detection engineering work.
  • Do not treat ATT&CK relationship context as attribution without corroborating evidence.

Mitigation priorities

  • Map the object to existing controls and identify missing telemetry or response ownership.
  • Prioritize mitigations that reduce exposure on the listed platforms and tactics.
  • Review adjacent ATT&CK relationships before changing policy, detections, or reporting language.
Additional notes and limits

Baseline Glexia take generated from the official MITRE ATT&CK STIX object, source hash, tactics, platforms, and detection fields. It is safe to replace with a richer model-generated take for the same source hash later.

This baseline take is source-grounded and schema-validated, but it does not include environment-specific telemetry, incident evidence, or threat-intelligence corroboration.

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Official MITRE ATT&CK definition

File Metadata

contextual information about a file, including attributes such as the file's name, size, type, content (e.g., signatures, headers, media), user/owner, permissions, timestamps, and other related properties. File metadata provides insights into a file's characteristics and can be used to detect malicious activity, unauthorized modifications, or other anomalies. Examples:

- File Ownership and Permissions: Checking the owner and permissions of a critical configuration file like /etc/passwd on Linux or C:\Windows\System32\config\SAM on Windows. - Timestamps: Analyzing the creation, modification, and access timestamps of a file. - File Content and Signatures: Extracting the headers of an executable file to verify its signature or detect packing/obfuscation. - File Attributes: Analyzing attributes like hidden, system, or read-only flags in Windows. - File Hashes: Generating MD5, SHA-1, or SHA-256 hashes of files to compare against threat intelligence feeds. - File Location: Monitoring files located in unusual directories or paths, such as temporary or user folders.

View the same entry on attack.mitre.org (MITRE-hosted reference; in-page links above use the Glexia ATT&CK library.)

Glexia analysis

How security teams should use this page

Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.

Relationship explorer

All related ATT&CK context

No relationships are available in the current normalized data for this object.

Change history

Object version and sync metadata

The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates.

ATT&CK release
19.2
Object version
2.1
Created
Modified
Raw hash
961387609de1d3ed...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(3)
ReleaseBundle importedObject versionModifiedStatusRaw hash
20.02.1Older bundlec7f501a042d3…
19.22.1Current bundle961387609de1…
19.12.1Older bundle961387609de1…
Raw source

Mirrored ATT&CK source object

The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.

Source references

External references and citations

MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.

  1. [1]
    mitre-attackDC0059
    Open source URL
Source and licensing

Source: MITRE ATT&CK®. © 2026 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK and ATT&CK are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Glexia is not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE.