Potential Data Exfiltration Through Wget
Detects the use of wget to upload files to an internet server. Threat actors often will collect data on a system and attempt to exfiltrate it back to their command and control servers. Use of wget in this way, while not inherently malicious, should be considered highly abnormal and suspicious activity.
Elastic rule (View on GitHub)
1[metadata]
2creation_date = "2026/01/07"
3integration = ["endpoint", "crowdstrike", "sentinel_one_cloud_funnel", "auditd_manager"]
4maturity = "production"
5updated_date = "2026/01/07"
6
7[rule]
8author = ["Elastic"]
9description = """
10Detects the use of wget to upload files to an internet server. Threat actors often will collect data on a system
11and attempt to exfiltrate it back to their command and control servers. Use of wget in this way, while not
12inherently malicious, should be considered highly abnormal and suspicious activity.
13"""
14from = "now-9m"
15index = [
16 "auditbeat-*",
17 "endgame-*",
18 "logs-auditd_manager.auditd-*",
19 "logs-crowdstrike.fdr*",
20 "logs-endpoint.events.process*",
21 "logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*",
22]
23language = "eql"
24license = "Elastic License v2"
25name = "Potential Data Exfiltration Through Wget"
26references = ["https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/wget/"]
27risk_score = 47
28rule_id = "8d8c0b55-ef27-4c20-959f-fa8dd3ac25e6"
29setup = """## Setup
30
31This rule requires data coming in from Elastic Defend.
32
33### Elastic Defend Integration Setup
34Elastic Defend is integrated into the Elastic Agent using Fleet. Upon configuration, the integration allows the Elastic Agent to monitor events on your host and send data to the Elastic Security app.
35
36#### Prerequisite Requirements:
37- Fleet is required for Elastic Defend.
38- To configure Fleet Server refer to the [documentation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/fleet-server.html).
39
40#### The following steps should be executed in order to add the Elastic Defend integration on a Linux System:
41- Go to the Kibana home page and click "Add integrations".
42- In the query bar, search for "Elastic Defend" and select the integration to see more details about it.
43- Click "Add Elastic Defend".
44- Configure the integration name and optionally add a description.
45- Select the type of environment you want to protect, either "Traditional Endpoints" or "Cloud Workloads".
46- Select a configuration preset. Each preset comes with different default settings for Elastic Agent, you can further customize these later by configuring the Elastic Defend integration policy. [Helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/configure-endpoint-integration-policy.html).
47- We suggest selecting "Complete EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)" as a configuration setting, that provides "All events; all preventions"
48- Enter a name for the agent policy in "New agent policy name". If other agent policies already exist, you can click the "Existing hosts" tab and select an existing policy instead.
49For more details on Elastic Agent configuration settings, refer to the [helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/8.10/agent-policy.html).
50- Click "Save and Continue".
51- To complete the integration, select "Add Elastic Agent to your hosts" and continue to the next section to install the Elastic Agent on your hosts.
52For more details on Elastic Defend refer to the [helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/install-endpoint.html).
53"""
54severity = "medium"
55tags = [
56 "Domain: Endpoint",
57 "OS: Linux",
58 "Use Case: Threat Detection",
59 "Tactic: Exfiltration",
60 "Data Source: Auditd Manager",
61 "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
62 "Data Source: Crowdstrike",
63 "Data Source: SentinelOne",
64 "Data Source: Elastic Endgame",
65]
66timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
67type = "eql"
68query = '''
69process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and
70event.action in ("exec", "exec_event", "start", "ProcessRollup2", "executed", "process_started") and
71process.name == "wget" and process.args like ("--post-file=*", "--body-file=*")
72'''
73
74[[rule.threat]]
75framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
76
77 [rule.threat.tactic]
78 name = "Exfiltration"
79 id = "TA0010"
80 reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0010/"
81
82 [[rule.threat.technique]]
83 name = "Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol"
84 id = "T1048"
85 reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1048/"
References
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