Process Capability Set via setcap Utility

This rule detects the use of the setcap utility to set capabilities on a process. The setcap utility is used to set the capabilities of a binary to allow it to perform privileged operations without needing to run as root. This can be used by attackers to establish persistence by creating a backdoor, or escalate privileges by abusing a misconfiguration on a system.

Elastic rule (View on GitHub)

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2024/06/03"
 3integration = ["endpoint"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5updated_date = "2024/06/03"
 6
 7[rule]
 8author = ["Elastic"]
 9description = """
10This rule detects the use of the setcap utility to set capabilities on a process. The setcap utility is used to set the
11capabilities of a binary to allow it to perform privileged operations without needing to run as root. This can be used
12by attackers to establish persistence by creating a backdoor, or escalate privileges by abusing a misconfiguration on a
13system.
14"""
15from = "now-9m"
16index = ["logs-endpoint.events.process*", "endgame-*"]
17language = "eql"
18license = "Elastic License v2"
19name = "Process Capability Set via setcap Utility"
20risk_score = 21
21rule_id = "f18a474c-3632-427f-bcf5-363c994309ee"
22setup = """## Setup
23
24This rule requires data coming in from Elastic Defend.
25
26### Elastic Defend Integration Setup
27Elastic Defend is integrated into the Elastic Agent using Fleet. Upon configuration, the integration allows
28the Elastic Agent to monitor events on your host and send data to the Elastic Security app.
29
30#### Prerequisite Requirements:
31- Fleet is required for Elastic Defend.
32- To configure Fleet Server refer to the [documentation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/fleet-server.html).
33
34#### The following steps should be executed in order to add the Elastic Defend integration on a Linux System:
35- Go to the Kibana home page and click "Add integrations".
36- In the query bar, search for "Elastic Defend" and select the integration to see more details about it.
37- Click "Add Elastic Defend".
38- Configure the integration name and optionally add a description.
39- Select the type of environment you want to protect, either "Traditional Endpoints" or "Cloud Workloads".
40- 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).
41- We suggest to select "Complete EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)" as a configuration setting, that provides "All events; all preventions"
42- 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.
43For more details on Elastic Agent configuration settings, refer to the [helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/8.10/agent-policy.html).
44- Click "Save and Continue".
45- 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.
46For more details on Elastic Defend refer to the [helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/install-endpoint.html).
47"""
48severity = "low"
49tags = [
50    "Domain: Endpoint",
51    "OS: Linux",
52    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
53    "Tactic: Persistence",
54    "Tactic: Privilege Escalation",
55    "Data Source: Elastic Endgame",
56    "Data Source: Elastic Defend"
57]
58timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
59type = "eql"
60query = '''
61process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action in ("exec", "exec_event") and
62process.name == "setcap" and not (
63  process.parent.executable == null or
64  process.parent.executable : ("/var/lib/dpkg/*", "/var/lib/docker/*", "/tmp/newroot/*", "/var/tmp/newroot/*") or 
65  process.parent.name in ("jem", "vzctl")
66)
67'''
68
69[[rule.threat]]
70framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
71
72[rule.threat.tactic]
73id = "TA0003"
74name = "Persistence"
75reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/"
76
77[[rule.threat]]
78framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
79
80[rule.threat.tactic]
81id = "TA0004"
82name = "Privilege Escalation"
83reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/"

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