Academy
TermTechnique

Form grabbing

Capturing data the user enters into web forms from inside the browser, before the page is submitted.

Flow

  1. 1Gets into the browser
  2. 2Captures the submission
  3. 3Sends to the attacker
Related families
Stealerium
MITRE ATT&CK
T1185 · Browser Session Hijacking
Sources
6 sources
01

Overview

A form grabber sits inside the browser and listens for the moment the form is submitted. Because the data is captured before it is encrypted and leaves for the network, HTTPS offers no protection. MITRE ATT&CK

This method spread with banking trojans. Today’s infostealers mostly read data the browser has already saved; form grabbing also yields card and login details that are not saved. MITRE ATT&CK

02

How it works

  1. 1

    Gets into the browser

    Code is injected into the browser process or a malicious extension is installed. MITRE ATT&CK

  2. 2

    Captures the submission

    The fields are read as the form is submitted. MITRE ATT&CK

  3. 3

    Sends to the attacker

    The captured data is sent to the command and control server. MITRE ATT&CK

03

Real-world examples

Stealerium: card data from forms

Stealerium profile

Proofpoint reported that Stealerium-based malware also took banking and card data collected from web forms. Proofpoint

04

How to detect it

  • Code being written into the browser process from another process, or an unknown extension being installed. MITRE ATT&CK
05

What to do

  • Restrict browser extensions with a corporate allowlist. MITRE ATT&CK
  • Use phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication for payments and logins. MITRE ATT&CK
06

MITRE ATT&CK

07

Related families and terms

08

Sources

  1. 1Browser Session Hijacking (T1185) · MITRE ATT&CK
  2. 2Web Portal Capture (T1056.003) · MITRE ATT&CK
  3. 3Software Extensions (T1176) · MITRE ATT&CK
  4. 4Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) · MITRE ATT&CK
  5. 5Not safe for work: Stealerium and Phantom infostealers · Proofpoint, 2025
  6. 6Multi-factor Authentication (M1032) · MITRE ATT&CK
From the Essential plan

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