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This rule detects commonly abused network utilities running inside a container. Network utilities like nc, nmap, dig, tcpdump, ngrep, telnet, mitmproxy, zmap can be used for malicious purposes such as network reconnaissance, monitoring, or exploitation, and should be monitored closely within a container.
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This rule detects potential Docker socket enumeration activity by monitoring processes that attempt to interact with the Docker socket file (/var/run/docker.sock). Docker socket enumeration is a common technique used by attackers to interact with the Docker daemon and perform various operations, such as creating, starting, stopping, and removing containers. Attackers may abuse Docker socket enumeration to gain unauthorized access to the host system, escalate privileges, or move laterally within the environment.
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This rule detects potential port scanning activity from a compromised host. Port scanning is a common reconnaissance technique used by attackers to identify open ports and services on a target system. A compromised host may exhibit port scanning behavior when an attacker is attempting to map out the network topology, identify vulnerable services, or prepare for further exploitation. This rule identifies potential port scanning activity by monitoring network connection attempts from a single host to a large number of ports within a short time frame. ES|QL rules have limited fields available in its alert documents. Make sure to review the original documents to aid in the investigation of this alert.
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This rule detects potential subnet scanning activity from a compromised host. Subnet scanning is a common reconnaissance technique used by attackers to identify live hosts within a network range. A compromised host may exhibit subnet scanning behavior when an attacker is attempting to map out the network topology, identify vulnerable hosts, or prepare for further exploitation. This rule identifies potential subnet scanning activity by monitoring network connection attempts from a single host to a large number of hosts within a short time frame. ES|QL rules have limited fields available in its alert documents. Make sure to review the original documents to aid in the investigation of this alert.
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Identifies when the SYSTEM account uses an account discovery utility. This could be a sign of discovery activity after an adversary has achieved privilege escalation.
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AdFind Command Activity
Mar 26, 2025 · Domain: Endpoint OS: Windows Use Case: Threat Detection Tactic: Discovery Resources: Investigation Guide Data Source: Elastic Endgame Data Source: Elastic Defend Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Source: Sysmon Data Source: SentinelOne Data Source: Crowdstrike ·This rule detects the Active Directory query tool, AdFind.exe. AdFind has legitimate purposes, but it is frequently leveraged by threat actors to perform post-exploitation Active Directory reconnaissance. The AdFind tool has been observed in Trickbot, Ryuk, Maze, and FIN6 campaigns. For Winlogbeat, this rule requires Sysmon.
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Enumerating Domain Trusts via DSQUERY.EXE
Mar 26, 2025 · Domain: Endpoint OS: Windows Use Case: Threat Detection Tactic: Discovery Data Source: Elastic Endgame Resources: Investigation Guide Data Source: Elastic Defend Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Source: Sysmon Data Source: SentinelOne Data Source: Crowdstrike ·Identifies the use of dsquery.exe for domain trust discovery purposes. Adversaries may use this command-line utility to enumerate trust relationships that may be used for Lateral Movement opportunities in Windows multi-domain forest environments.
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Enumerating Domain Trusts via NLTEST.EXE
Mar 26, 2025 · Domain: Endpoint OS: Windows Use Case: Threat Detection Tactic: Discovery Data Source: Elastic Endgame Resources: Investigation Guide Data Source: Elastic Defend Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Source: Crowdstrike Data Source: Sysmon ·Identifies the use of nltest.exe for domain trust discovery purposes. Adversaries may use this command-line utility to enumerate domain trusts and gain insight into trust relationships, as well as the state of Domain Controller (DC) replication in a Microsoft Windows NT Domain.
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Identifies instances of lower privilege accounts enumerating Administrator accounts or groups using built-in Windows tools.
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Identifies instances of an unusual process enumerating built-in Windows privileged local groups membership like Administrators or Remote Desktop users.
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Group Policy Discovery via Microsoft GPResult Utility
Mar 26, 2025 · Domain: Endpoint OS: Windows Use Case: Threat Detection Tactic: Discovery Data Source: Elastic Endgame Data Source: Elastic Defend Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Source: Sysmon Data Source: SentinelOne Data Source: Crowdstrike Resources: Investigation Guide ·Detects the usage of gpresult.exe to query group policy objects. Attackers may query group policy objects during the reconnaissance phase after compromising a system to gain a better understanding of the active directory environment and possible methods to escalate privileges or move laterally.
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Peripheral Device Discovery
Mar 26, 2025 · Domain: Endpoint OS: Windows Use Case: Threat Detection Tactic: Discovery Resources: Investigation Guide Data Source: Elastic Endgame Data Source: Elastic Defend Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Source: Sysmon Data Source: SentinelOne Data Source: Crowdstrike ·Identifies use of the Windows file system utility (fsutil.exe) to gather information about attached peripheral devices and components connected to a computer system.
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Detects scripts that contain PowerShell functions, structures, or Windows API functions related to windows share enumeration activities. Attackers, mainly ransomware groups, commonly identify and inspect network shares, looking for critical information for encryption and/or exfiltration.
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This rule detects the use of discovery-related Windows API functions in PowerShell Scripts. Attackers can use these functions to perform various situational awareness related activities, like enumerating users, shares, sessions, domain trusts, groups, etc.
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Identify read access to a high number of Active Directory object attributes. The knowledge of objects properties can help adversaries find vulnerabilities, elevate privileges or collect sensitive information.
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Identifies suspicious use of whoami.exe which displays user, group, and privileges information for the user who is currently logged on to the local system.
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Wireless Credential Dumping using Netsh Command
Mar 26, 2025 · Domain: Endpoint OS: Windows Use Case: Threat Detection Tactic: Credential Access Tactic: Discovery Data Source: Elastic Endgame Resources: Investigation Guide Data Source: Elastic Defend Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Source: Sysmon Data Source: SentinelOne Data Source: Crowdstrike ·Identifies attempts to dump Wireless saved access keys in clear text using the Windows built-in utility Netsh.
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Detects when a single AWS resource is running multiple
Describe
andList
API calls in a 10-second window. This behavior could indicate an actor attempting to discover the AWS infrastructure using compromised credentials or a compromised instance. Adversaries may use this information to identify potential targets for further exploitation or to gain a better understanding of the target's infrastructure.
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Identifies instances where the 'find' command is started on a Linux system with arguments targeting specific VM-related paths, such as "/etc/vmware/", "/usr/lib/vmware/", or "/vmfs/*". These paths are associated with VMware virtualization software, and their presence in the find command arguments may indicate that a threat actor is attempting to search for, analyze, or manipulate VM-related files and configurations on the system.
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Identifies instances where a process named 'grep', 'egrep', or 'pgrep' is started on a Linux system with arguments related to virtual machine (VM) files, such as "vmdk", "vmx", "vmxf", "vmsd", "vmsn", "vswp", "vmss", "nvram", or "vmem". These file extensions are associated with VM-related file formats, and their presence in grep command arguments may indicate that a threat actor is attempting to search for, analyze, or manipulate VM files on the system.
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Hping ran on a Linux host. Hping is a FOSS command-line packet analyzer and has the ability to construct network packets for a wide variety of network security testing applications, including scanning and firewall auditing.
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Nping ran on a Linux host. Nping is part of the Nmap tool suite and has the ability to construct raw packets for a wide variety of security testing applications, including denial of service testing.
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This rule detects PAM version discovery activity on Linux systems. PAM version discovery can be an indication of an attacker attempting to backdoor the authentication process through malicious PAM modules.
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This rule detects Polkit version discovery activity on Linux systems. Polkit version discovery can be an indication of an attacker attempting to exploit misconfigurations or vulnerabilities in the Polkit service.
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This rule detects private key searching activity on Linux systems. Searching for private keys can be an indication of an attacker attempting to escalate privileges or exfiltrate sensitive information.
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This rule detects sensitive security file access via common utilities on Linux systems. Adversaries may attempt to read from sensitive files using common utilities to gather information about the system and its security configuration.
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This rule monitors for the usage of the sudo -l command, which is used to list the allowed and forbidden commands for the invoking user. Attackers may execute this command to enumerate commands allowed to be executed with sudo permissions, potentially allowing to escalate privileges to root.
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Monitors for dynamic linker discovery via the od utility. od (octal dump) is a command-line utility in Unix operating systems used for displaying data in various formats, including octal, hexadecimal, decimal, and ASCII, primarily used for examining and debugging binary files or data streams. Attackers can leverage od to analyze the dynamic linker by identifying injection points and craft exploits based on the observed behaviors and structures within these files.
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Monitors for grep activity related to memory mapping. The /proc/*/maps file in Linux provides a memory map for a specific process, detailing the memory segments, permissions, and what files are mapped to these segments. Attackers may read a process's memory map to identify memory addresses for code injection or process hijacking.
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This rule monitors for the usage of the which command with an unusual amount of process arguments. Attackers may leverage the which command to enumerate the system for useful installed utilities that may be used after compromising a system to escalate privileges or move latteraly across the network.
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This rule detects the execution of the
grep
command with theplugins
argument on Linux systems. This command is used to search for YUM/DNF configurations and/or plugins with an enabled state. This behavior may indicate an attacker is attempting to establish persistence in a YUM or DNF plugin.
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This rule detects commonly abused network utilities running inside a container. Network utilities like nc, nmap, dig, tcpdump, ngrep, telnet, mitmproxy, zmap can be used for malicious purposes such as network reconnaissance, monitoring, or exploitation, and should be monitored closely within a container.
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This rule identifies a potential port scan. A port scan is a method utilized by attackers to systematically scan a target system or network for open ports, allowing them to identify available services and potential vulnerabilities. By mapping out the open ports, attackers can gather critical information to plan and execute targeted attacks, gaining unauthorized access, compromising security, and potentially leading to data breaches, unauthorized control, or further exploitation of the targeted system or network. This rule defines a threshold-based approach to detect connection attempts from a single source to a wide range of destination ports.
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This rule identifies a potential network sweep. A network sweep is a method used by attackers to scan a target network, identifying active hosts, open ports, and available services to gather information on vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This reconnaissance helps them plan subsequent attacks and exploit potential entry points for unauthorized access, data theft, or other malicious activities. This rule defines a threshold-based approach to detect multiple connection attempts from a single host to numerous destination hosts over commonly used network services.
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This rule identifies a potential SYN-Based port scan. A SYN port scan is a technique employed by attackers to scan a target network for open ports by sending SYN packets to multiple ports and observing the response. Attackers use this method to identify potential entry points or services that may be vulnerable to exploitation, allowing them to launch targeted attacks or gain unauthorized access to the system or network, compromising its security and potentially leading to data breaches or further malicious activities. This rule defines a threshold-based approach to detect connection attempts from a single source to a large number of unique destination ports, while limiting the number of packets per port.
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This rule detects kernel seeking activity through several built-in Linux utilities. Attackers may use these utilities to search the Linux kernel for available symbols, functions, and other information that can be used to exploit the kernel.
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This rule detects kernel unpacking activity through several built-in Linux utilities. Attackers may use these utilities to unpack kernel images and modules to search for vulnerabilities or to modify the kernel.
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Identifies recursive process capability enumeration of the entire filesystem through the getcap command. Malicious users may manipulate identified capabilities to gain root privileges.
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This rule monitors for the usage of the "find" command in conjunction with SUID and SGUID permission arguments. SUID (Set User ID) and SGID (Set Group ID) are special permissions in Linux that allow a program to execute with the privileges of the file owner or group, respectively, rather than the privileges of the user running the program. In case an attacker is able to enumerate and find a binary that is misconfigured, they might be able to leverage this misconfiguration to escalate privileges by exploiting vulnerabilities or built-in features in the privileged program.
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Monitors for /proc//maps file reads. The /proc//maps file in Linux provides a memory map for a specific process, detailing the memory segments, permissions, and what files are mapped to these segments. Attackers may read a process's memory map to identify memory addresses for code injection or process hijacking.
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This rule identifies potentially malicious processes attempting to access the cloud service provider's instance metadata service (IMDS) API endpoint, which can be used to retrieve sensitive instance-specific information such as instance ID, public IP address, and even temporary security credentials if role's are assumed by that instance. The rule monitors for various tools and scripts like curl, wget, python, and perl that might be used to interact with the metadata API.
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This rule monitors for a sequence of 20 "id" command executions within 1 second by the same parent process. This behavior is unusual, and may be indicative of the execution of an enumeration script such as LinPEAS or LinEnum. These scripts leverage the "id" command to enumerate the privileges of all users present on the system.
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Identifies the execution of macOS built-in commands related to account or group enumeration. Adversaries may use account and group information to orient themselves before deciding how to act.
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Identifies discovery request
DescribeInstanceAttribute
with the attribute userData and instanceId in AWS CloudTrail logs. This may indicate an attempt to retrieve user data from an EC2 instance. Adversaries may use this information to gather sensitive data from the instance such as hardcoded credentials or to identify potential vulnerabilities. This is a New Terms rule that identifies whenaws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn
requests the user data for a specificaws.cloudtrail.flattened.request_parameters.instanceId
from an EC2 instance in the last 14 days.
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An adversary with access to a set of compromised credentials may attempt to verify that the credentials are valid and determine what account they are using. This rule looks for the first time an identity has called the STS
GetCallerIdentity
API operation in the last 15 days, which may be an indicator of compromised credentials. A legitimate user would not need to call this operation as they should know the account they are using.
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Loadable Kernel Modules (or LKMs) are pieces of code that can be loaded and unloaded into the kernel upon demand. They extend the functionality of the kernel without the need to reboot the system. This identifies attempts to enumerate information about a kernel module.
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Potential Pspy Process Monitoring Detected
This rule leverages auditd to monitor for processes scanning different processes within the /proc directory using the openat syscall. This is a strong indication for the usage of the pspy utility. Attackers may leverage the pspy process monitoring utility to monitor system processes without requiring root permissions, in order to find potential privilege escalation vectors.
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AWS EC2 Deprecated AMI Discovery
Identifies when a user has queried for deprecated Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) in AWS. This may indicate an adversary whom is looking for outdated AMIs that may be vulnerable to exploitation. While deprecated AMIs are not inherently malicious or indicate breach, they may be more susceptible to vulnerabilities and should be investigated for potential security risks.
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AWS EC2 Multi-Region DescribeInstances API Calls
Identifies when a single AWS resource is making
DescribeInstances
API calls in more than 10 regions within a 30-second window. This could indicate a potential threat actor attempting to discover the AWS infrastructure across multiple regions using compromised credentials or a compromised instance. Adversaries may use this information to identify potential targets for further exploitation or to gain a better understanding of the target's infrastructure.
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Identifies when a single AWS resource is making
GetServiceQuota
API calls for the EC2 service quota L-1216C47A in more than 10 regions within a 30-second window. Quota code L-1216C47A represents on-demand instances which are used by adversaries to deploy malware and mine cryptocurrency. This could indicate a potential threat actor attempting to discover the AWS infrastructure across multiple regions using compromised credentials or a compromised instance.
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Azure Blob Container Access Level Modification
Identifies changes to container access levels in Azure. Anonymous public read access to containers and blobs in Azure is a way to share data broadly, but can present a security risk if access to sensitive data is not managed judiciously.
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This rule detects when a service account makes an unauthorized request for resources from the API server. Service accounts follow a very predictable pattern of behavior. A service account should never send an unauthorized request to the API server. This behavior is likely an indicator of compromise or of a problem within the cluster. An adversary may have gained access to credentials/tokens and this could be an attempt to access or create resources to facilitate further movement or execution within the cluster.
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This rule detects when a service account or node attempts to enumerate their own permissions via the selfsubjectaccessreview or selfsubjectrulesreview APIs. This is highly unusual behavior for non-human identities like service accounts and nodes. An adversary may have gained access to credentials/tokens and this could be an attempt to determine what privileges they have to facilitate further movement or execution within the cluster.
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Potential Enumeration via Active Directory Web Service
Identifies processes loading Active Directory related modules followed by a network connection to the ADWS dedicated TCP port. Adversaries may abuse the ADWS Windows service that allows Active Directory to be queried via this web service.
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This threshold rule monitors for the rapid execution of unix utilities that are capable of conducting network scans. Adversaries may leverage built-in tools such as ping, netcat or socat to execute ping sweeps across the network while attempting to evade detection or due to the lack of network mapping tools available on the compromised host.
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Unusual Discovery Signal Alert with Unusual Process Command Line
This rule leverages alert data from various Discovery building block rules to alert on signals with unusual unique host.id, user.id and process.command_line entries.
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Unusual Discovery Signal Alert with Unusual Process Executable
This rule leverages Discovery building block rule alert data to alert on signals with unusual unique host.id, user.id and process.executable entries.
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Looks for commands related to system network configuration discovery from an unusual user context. This can be due to uncommon troubleshooting activity or due to a compromised account. A compromised account may be used by a threat actor to engage in system network configuration discovery in order to increase their understanding of connected networks and hosts. This information may be used to shape follow-up behaviors such as lateral movement or additional discovery.
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Looks for commands related to system network connection discovery from an unusual user context. This can be due to uncommon troubleshooting activity or due to a compromised account. A compromised account may be used by a threat actor to engage in system network connection discovery in order to increase their understanding of connected services and systems. This information may be used to shape follow-up behaviors such as lateral movement or additional discovery.
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Looks for commands related to system process discovery from an unusual user context. This can be due to uncommon troubleshooting activity or due to a compromised account. A compromised account may be used by a threat actor to engage in system process discovery in order to increase their understanding of software applications running on a target host or network. This may be a precursor to selection of a persistence mechanism or a method of privilege elevation.
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Looks for commands related to system information discovery from an unusual user context. This can be due to uncommon troubleshooting activity or due to a compromised account. A compromised account may be used to engage in system information discovery in order to gather detailed information about system configuration and software versions. This may be a precursor to selection of a persistence mechanism or a method of privilege elevation.
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Looks for commands related to system user or owner discovery from an unusual user context. This can be due to uncommon troubleshooting activity or due to a compromised account. A compromised account may be used to engage in system owner or user discovery in order to identify currently active or primary users of a system. This may be a precursor to additional discovery, credential dumping or privilege elevation activity.
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An adversary may attempt to get detailed information about the operating system and hardware. This rule identifies common locations used to discover virtual machine hardware by a non-root user. This technique has been used by the Pupy RAT and other malware.
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An adversary may attempt to get detailed information about the operating system and hardware. This rule identifies common locations used to discover virtual machine hardware by a non-root user. This technique has been used by the Pupy RAT and other malware.
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Identifies the use of the grep command to discover known third-party macOS and Linux security tools, such as Antivirus or Host Firewall details.
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