ASLR Disabled Via Sysctl or Direct Syscall - Linux

calendar Oct 29, 2025 · attack.privilege-escalation attack.defense-evasion attack.t1562.001 attack.t1055.009  ·
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Detects actions that disable Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) in Linux, including:

  • Use of the personality syscall with the ADDR_NO_RANDOMIZE flag (0x0040000)
  • Modification of the /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space file
  • Execution of the sysctl command to set kernel.randomize_va_space=0 Disabling ASLR is often used by attackers during exploit development or to bypass memory protection mechanisms. A successful use of these methods can reduce the effectiveness of ASLR and make memory corruption attacks more reliable.

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: ASLR Disabled Via Sysctl or Direct Syscall - Linux
 2id: e497a24e-9345-4a62-9803-b06d7d7cb132
 3status: experimental
 4description: |
 5    Detects actions that disable Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) in Linux, including:
 6      - Use of the `personality` syscall with the ADDR_NO_RANDOMIZE flag (0x0040000)
 7      - Modification of the /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space file
 8      - Execution of the `sysctl` command to set `kernel.randomize_va_space=0`
 9    Disabling ASLR is often used by attackers during exploit development or to bypass memory protection mechanisms.
10    A successful use of these methods can reduce the effectiveness of ASLR and make memory corruption attacks more reliable.    
11references:
12    - https://github.com/CheraghiMilad/bypass-Neo23x0-auditd-config/blob/f1c478a37911a5447d5ffcd580f22b167bf3df14/personality-syscall/README.md
13    - https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/personality.2.html
14    - https://manual.cs50.io/2/personality
15    - https://linux-audit.com/linux-aslr-and-kernelrandomize_va_space-setting/
16author: Milad Cheraghi
17date: 2025-05-26
18modified: 2025-10-18
19tags:
20    - attack.privilege-escalation
21    - attack.defense-evasion
22    - attack.t1562.001
23    - attack.t1055.009
24logsource:
25    product: linux
26    service: auditd
27detection:
28    selection_syscall:
29        type: 'SYSCALL'
30        syscall: 'personality'
31        a0: 40000
32    selection_sysctl:
33        type: 'EXECVE'
34        a0: 'sysctl'
35        a1: '-w'
36        a2: 'kernel.randomize_va_space=0' # 0 = disable
37    condition: 1 of selection_*
38falsepositives:
39    - Debugging or legitimate software testing
40level: high

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