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Suspicious File Creation in /etc for Persistence

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Suspicious File Creation in /etc for Persistence

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Detects the manual creation of files in specific etc directories, via user root, used by Linux malware to persist and elevate privileges on compromised systems. File creation in these directories should not be entirely common and could indicate a malicious binary or script installing persistence for long term access.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Linux
Threat Detection
Persistence
Orbit
Lightning Framework

Version: 101 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.6.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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file where event.action == "creation" and user.name == "root" and
file.path : ("/etc/ld.so.conf.d/*", "/etc/cron.d/*",
"/etc/sudoers.d/*", "/etc/rc.d/init.d/*", "/etc/systemd/system/*") and
not process.executable : ("*/dpkg", "*/yum", "*/apt", "*/dnf",
"*/systemd", "*/snapd", "*/dnf-automatic", "*/yum-cron", "*/elastic-
agent", "*/dnfdaemon-system")

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Boot or Logon Initialization Scripts
- ID: T1037
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1037/
Tactic:
- Name: Execution
- ID: TA0002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
Technique:
- Name: Scheduled Task/Job
- ID: T1053
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/
Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
Technique:
- Name: Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
- ID: T1548
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/

Rule version history

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Version 101 (8.6.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

file where event.action == "creation" and user.name == "root" and
file.path : ("/etc/ld.so.conf.d/*", "/etc/cron.d/*",
"/etc/sudoers.d/*", "/etc/rc.d/init.d/*", "/etc/systemd/system/*") and
not process.executable : ("*/dpkg", "*/yum", "*/apt", "*/dnf",
"*/systemd")

Version 100 (8.5.0 release)

Formatting only

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