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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Identify access to sensitive Active Directory object attributes that contains credentials and decryption keys such as unixUserPassword, ms-PKI-AccountCredentials and msPKI-CredentialRoamingTokens.

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Detects the creation and modification of an account with the "Don't Expire Password" option Enabled. Attackers can abuse this misconfiguration to persist in the domain and maintain long-term access using compromised accounts with this property.

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Detects modifications in the AdminSDHolder object. Attackers can abuse the SDProp process to implement a persistent backdoor in Active Directory. SDProp compares the permissions on protected objects with those defined on the AdminSDHolder object. If the permissions on any of the protected accounts and groups do not match, the permissions on the protected accounts and groups are reset to match those of the domain's AdminSDHolder object, regaining their Administrative Privileges.

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Identifies a modification on the dsHeuristics attribute on the bit that holds the configuration of groups excluded from the SDProp process. The SDProp compares the permissions on protected objects with those defined on the AdminSDHolder object. If the permissions on any of the protected accounts and groups do not match, the permissions on the protected accounts and groups are reset to match those of the domain's AdminSDHolder object, meaning that groups excluded will remain unchanged. Attackers can abuse this misconfiguration to maintain long-term access to privileged accounts in these groups.

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Active Directory Integrated DNS (ADIDNS) is one of the core components of AD DS, leveraging AD's access control and replication to maintain domain consistency. It stores DNS zones as AD objects, a feature that, while robust, introduces some security issues because of the default permission (Any authenticated users) to create DNS-named records. Attackers can perform Dynamic Spoofing attacks, where they monitor LLMNR/NBT-NS requests and create DNS-named records to target systems that are requested from multiple systems. They can also create specific records to target specific services, such as wpad, for spoofing attacks.

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This rule identifies when a User Account starts the Active Directory Replication Process for the first time. Attackers can use the DCSync technique to get credential information of individual accounts or the entire domain, thus compromising the entire domain.

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Identifies the modification of an account's Kerberos pre-authentication options. An adversary with GenericWrite/GenericAll rights over the account can maliciously modify these settings to perform offline password cracking attacks such as AS-REP roasting.

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Identifies the modification of the msDS-AllowedToDelegateTo attribute to KRBTGT. Attackers can use this technique to maintain persistence to the domain by having the ability to request tickets for the KRBTGT service.

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Identifies handle requests for the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) object access with specific access masks that many tools with a capability to dump memory to disk use (0x1fffff, 0x1010, 0x120089). This rule is tool agnostic as it has been validated against a host of various LSASS dump tools such as SharpDump, Procdump, Mimikatz, Comsvcs etc. It detects this behavior at a low level and does not depend on a specific tool or dump file name.

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Identify the modification of the msPKIAccountCredentials attribute in an Active Directory User Object. Attackers can abuse the credentials roaming feature to overwrite an arbitrary file for privilege escalation. ms-PKI-AccountCredentials contains binary large objects (BLOBs) of encrypted credential objects from the credential manager store, private keys, certificates, and certificate requests.

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Identifies the modification of the nTSecurityDescriptor attribute in a domain object with rights related to DCSync to a user/computer account. Attackers can use this backdoor to re-obtain access to hashes of any user/computer.

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Active Directory Integrated DNS (ADIDNS) is one of the core components of AD DS, leveraging AD's access control and replication to maintain domain consistency. It stores DNS zones as AD objects, a feature that, while robust, introduces some security issues, such as wildcard records, mainly because of the default permission (Any authenticated users) to create DNS-named records. Attackers can create wildcard records to redirect traffic that doesn't explicitly match records contained in the zone, becoming the Man-in-the-Middle and being able to abuse DNS similarly to LLMNR/NBNS spoofing.

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This rule identifies when a User Account starts the Active Directory Replication Process. Attackers can use the DCSync technique to get credential information of individual accounts or the entire domain, thus compromising the entire domain.

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Identify the modification of the msDS-KeyCredentialLink attribute in an Active Directory Computer or User Object. Attackers can abuse control over the object and create a key pair, append to raw public key in the attribute, and obtain persistent and stealthy access to the target user or computer object.

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Identifies the creation of a DNS record that is potentially meant to enable WPAD spoofing. Attackers can disable the Global Query Block List (GQBL) and create a "wpad" record to exploit hosts running WPAD with default settings for privilege escalation and lateral movement.

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Identifies attempts to disable auditing for some security sensitive audit policy sub-categories. This is often done by attackers in an attempt to evade detection and forensics on a system.

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Identifies the assignment of the SeEnableDelegationPrivilege sensitive "user right" to a user. The SeEnableDelegationPrivilege "user right" enables computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation. Attackers can abuse this right to compromise Active Directory accounts and elevate their privileges.

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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 remote access to the registry using an account with Backup Operators group membership. This may indicate an attempt to exfiltrate credentials by dumping the Security Account Manager (SAM) registry hive in preparation for credential access and privileges elevation.

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Detects when a user account has the servicePrincipalName attribute modified. Attackers can abuse write privileges over a user to configure Service Principle Names (SPNs) so that they can perform Kerberoasting. Administrators can also configure this for legitimate purposes, exposing the account to Kerberoasting.

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This rule monitors for the creation of Polkit policy files on Linux systems. Polkit policy files are used to define the permissions for system-wide services and applications. The creation of new Polkit policy files may indicate an attempt to modify the authentication process, which could be used for persistence by an adversary.

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This rule detects the execution of the pkexec command by a shell process. The pkexec command is used to execute programs as another user, typically as the superuser. Through the new_terms rule type, unusual executions of pkexec are identified, and may indicate an attempt to escalate privileges or perform unauthorized actions on the system.

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This rule detects the process of copying or moving files from or to the /boot directory on Linux systems. The /boot directory contains files that are essential for the system to boot, such as the kernel and initramfs images. Attackers may copy or move files to the /boot directory to modify the boot process, which can be leveraged to maintain access to the system.

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This rule detects the creation of D-Bus service files on Linux systems. D-Bus is a message bus system that provides a way for applications to talk to one another. D-Bus services are defined in service files that are typically located in default directories. The rule looks for the creation of service files that are not associated with known package managers or system services. Attackers may create malicious D-Bus services to establish persistence or escalate privileges on a system.

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This rule detects the creation of Dracut module files on Linux systems. Dracut is a tool used to generate an initramfs image that is used to boot the system. Dracut modules are scripts that are executed during the initramfs image generation process. Attackers may create malicious Dracut modules to execute arbitrary code at boot time, which can be leveraged to maintain persistence on a Linux system.

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Identifies the creation or execution of files or processes with names containing the Right-to-Left Override (RTLO) character, which can be used to disguise the file extension and trick users into executing malicious files.

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This rule detects the creation of GRUB configuration files on Linux systems. The GRUB configuration file is used to configure the boot loader, which is responsible for loading the operating system. Attackers may create malicious GRUB configuration files to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges during the boot process, which can be leveraged to maintain persistence on the system.

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This rule detects the generation of a new GRUB configuration file using built-in Linux commands. The GRUB configuration file is used to configure the GRUB bootloader, which is responsible for loading the Linux kernel and initramfs image during the boot process. Attackers may use these built-in utilities to generate a new GRUB configuration file that includes malicious kernel parameters or boot options, which can be leveraged to maintain persistence on the system.

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This rule detects the extraction of an initramfs image using the cpio command on Linux systems. The cpio command is used to create or extract cpio archives. Attackers may extract the initramfs image to modify the contents or add malicious files, which can be leveraged to maintain persistence on the system.

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This rule detects the unpacking of an initramfs image using the unmkinitramfs command on Linux systems. The unmkinitramfs command is used to extract the contents of an initramfs image, which is used to boot the system. Attackers may use unmkinitramfs to unpack an initramfs image and modify its contents to include malicious code or backdoors, allowing them to maintain persistence on the system.

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This rule detects manual execution of the dracut command on Linux systems. Dracut is a tool used to generate an initramfs image that is used to boot the system. Attackers may use dracut to create a custom initramfs image that includes malicious code or backdoors, allowing them to maintain persistence on the system.

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This rule detects the creation of a NetworkManager dispatcher script on a Linux system. NetworkManager dispatcher scripts are shell scripts that NetworkManager executes when network interfaces change state. Attackers can abuse NetworkManager dispatcher scripts to maintain persistence on a system by executing malicious code whenever a network event occurs.

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This rule detects the usage of the openssl binary to generate password hashes on Linux systems. The openssl command is a cryptographic utility that can be used to generate password hashes. Attackers may use openssl to generate password hashes for new user accounts or to change the password of existing accounts, which can be leveraged to maintain persistence on a Linux system.

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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 monitors the syslog log file for messages related to instances of processes that are started with an executable stack. This can be an indicator of a process that is attempting to execute code from the stack, which can be a security risk.

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This rule detects the execution of shell commands by systemd during the boot process on Linux systems. Systemd is a system and service manager for Linux operating systems. Attackers may execute shell commands during the boot process to maintain persistence on the system. This may be a sign of malicious systemd services, initramfs or GRUB bootloader manipulation, or other persistence mechanisms.

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This rule detects when an unusual child process is spawned from the dbus-daemon parent process. The dbus-daemon process is a message bus system that provides a way for applications to talk to each other. Attackers may abuse this process to execute malicious code or escalate privileges.

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Indicates the creation of a scheduled task using Windows event logs. Adversaries can use these to establish persistence, move laterally, and/or escalate privileges.

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Indicates the update of a scheduled task using Windows event logs. Adversaries can use these to establish persistence, by changing the configuration of a legit scheduled task. Some changes such as disabling or enabling a scheduled task are common and may may generate noise.

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This rule detects network events that may indicate the use of Telnet traffic. Telnet is commonly used by system administrators to remotely control older or embedded systems using the command line shell. It should almost never be directly exposed to the Internet, as it is frequently targeted and exploited by threat actors as an initial access or backdoor vector. As a plain-text protocol, it may also expose usernames and passwords to anyone capable of observing the traffic.

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This rule detects Linux Access Control List (ACL) modification via the setfacl command.

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Adversaries may collect the keychain storage data from a system to acquire credentials. Keychains are the built-in way for macOS to keep track of users' passwords and credentials for many services and features such as WiFi passwords, websites, secure notes and certificates.

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Identifies an attempt to reset a potentially privileged account password remotely. Adversaries may manipulate account passwords to maintain access or evade password duration policies and preserve compromised credentials.

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Identifies a potential forced authentication using related SMB named pipes. Attackers may attempt to force targets to authenticate to a host controlled by them to capture hashes or enable relay attacks.

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Identifies a user being added to an active directory group by the SYSTEM (S-1-5-18) user. This behavior can indicate that the attacker has achieved SYSTEM privileges in a domain controller, which attackers can obtain by exploiting vulnerabilities or abusing default group privileges (e.g., Server Operators), and is attempting to pivot to a domain account.

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Detects events that have a mismatch on the expected event agent ID. The status "agent_id_mismatch/mismatch" occurs when the expected agent ID associated with the API key does not match the actual agent ID in an event. This could indicate attempts to spoof events in order to masquerade actual activity to evade detection.

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Detects when multiple hosts are using the same agent ID. This could occur in the event of an agent being taken over and used to inject illegitimate documents into an instance as an attempt to spoof events in order to masquerade actual activity to evade detection.

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Identifies the creation of an Alternate Data Stream (ADS) at a volume root directory, which can indicate the attempt to hide tools and malware, as ADSs created in this directory are not displayed by system utilities.

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Looks for compiler activity by a user context which does not normally run compilers. This can be the result of ad-hoc software changes or unauthorized software deployment. This can also be due to local privilege elevation via locally run exploits or malware activity.

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Searches for rare processes running on multiple hosts in an entire fleet or network. This reduces the detection of false positives since automated maintenance processes usually only run occasionally on a single machine but are common to all or many hosts in a fleet.

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Detects execution via the Apple script interpreter (osascript) followed by a network connection from the same process within a short time period. Adversaries may use malicious scripts for execution and command and control.

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Identifies execution of the Apple script interpreter (osascript) without a password prompt and with administrator privileges.

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Detects file creation events in the configuration directory for the APT package manager. In Linux, APT (Advanced Package Tool) is a command-line utility used for handling packages on (by default) Debian-based systems, providing functions for installing, updating, upgrading, and removing software along with managing package repositories. Attackers can backdoor APT to gain persistence by injecting malicious code into scripts that APT runs, thereby ensuring continued unauthorized access or control each time APT is used for package management.

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This rule monitors for at jobs being created or renamed. Linux at jobs are scheduled tasks that can be leveraged by system administrators to set up scheduled tasks, but may be abused by malicious actors for persistence, privilege escalation and command execution. By creating or modifying cron job configurations, attackers can execute malicious commands or scripts at predefined intervals, ensuring their continued presence and enabling unauthorized activities.

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Monitors for the deletion of the kernel ring buffer events through dmesg. Attackers may clear kernel ring buffer events to evade detection after installing a Linux kernel module (LKM).

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Adversaries may attempt to disable the Auditd service to evade detection. Auditd is a Linux service that provides system auditing and logging. Disabling the Auditd service can prevent the system from logging important security events, which can be used to detect malicious activity.

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Detects attempts to disable Gatekeeper on macOS. Gatekeeper is a security feature that's designed to ensure that only trusted software is run. Adversaries may attempt to disable Gatekeeper before executing malicious code.

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Adversaries may attempt to disable the iptables or firewall service in an attempt to affect how a host is allowed to receive or send network traffic.

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Adversaries may attempt to disable the syslog service in an attempt to an attempt to disrupt event logging and evade detection by security controls.

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Identifies attempts to enable the root account using the dsenableroot command. This command may be abused by adversaries for persistence, as the root account is disabled by default.

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Detects the execution of the VScode portable binary with the tunnel command line option indicating an attempt to establish a remote tunnel session to Github or a remote VScode instance.

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Detects attempts to install or use Kali Linux via Windows Subsystem for Linux. Adversaries may enable and use WSL for Linux to avoid detection.

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Adversaries may install a root certificate on a compromised system to avoid warnings when connecting to their command and control servers. Root certificates are used in public key cryptography to identify a root certificate authority (CA). When a root certificate is installed, the system or application will trust certificates in the root's chain of trust that have been signed by the root certificate.

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Identifies the execution of macOS built-in commands to mount a Server Message Block (SMB) network share. Adversaries may use valid accounts to interact with a remote network share using SMB.

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Identifies attempts to unload the Elastic Endpoint Security kernel extension via the kextunload command.

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Identifies potential brute-force attempts against Microsoft 365 user accounts by detecting a high number of failed login attempts or login sources within a 30-minute window. Attackers may attempt to brute force user accounts to gain unauthorized access to Microsoft 365 services.

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This rule detects successful authentications via PAM grantors that are not commonly used. This could indicate an attacker is attempting to escalate privileges or maintain persistence on the system by modifying the default PAM configuration.

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Authorization plugins are used to extend the authorization services API and implement mechanisms that are not natively supported by the OS, such as multi-factor authentication with third party software. Adversaries may abuse this feature to persist and/or collect clear text credentials as they traverse the registered plugins during user logon.

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Detects the use of the AWS CLI with the --endpoint-url argument, which allows users to specify a custom endpoint URL for AWS services. This can be leveraged by adversaries to redirect API requests to non-standard or malicious endpoints, potentially bypassing typical security controls and logging mechanisms. This behavior may indicate an attempt to interact with unauthorized or compromised infrastructure, exfiltrate data, or perform other malicious activities under the guise of legitimate AWS operations.

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This rule detects the use of system search utilities like grep and find to search for AWS credentials inside a container. Unauthorized access to these sensitive files could lead to further compromise of the container environment or facilitate a container breakout to the underlying cloud environment.

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Detects when a single AWS resource is running multiple Describe and List 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 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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Identifies AWS EC2 EBS snaphots being shared with another AWS account or made public. EBS virtual disks can be copied into snapshots, which can then be shared with an external AWS account or made public. Adversaries may attempt this in order to copy the snapshot into an environment they control, to access the data.

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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 an AWS Lambda function policy is updated to allow public invocation. This rule specifically looks for the AddPermission API call with the Principal set to * which allows any AWS account to invoke the Lambda function. Adversaries may abuse this permission to create a backdoor in the Lambda function that allows them to execute arbitrary code.

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Identifies when an Lambda Layer is added to an existing Lambda function. AWS layers are a way to share code and data across multiple functions. By adding a layer to an existing function, an attacker can persist or execute code in the context of the function.

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Identifies the creation or modification of an AWS RDS DB instance to enable public access. DB instances may contain sensitive data that can be abused if shared with unauthorized accounts or made public. Adversaries may enable public access on a DB instance to maintain persistence or evade defenses by bypassing access controls.

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Identifies the modification of an AWS RDS DB instance or cluster to remove the deletionProtection feature. Deletion protection is enabled automatically for instances set up through the console and can be used to protect them from unintentional deletion activity. If disabled an instance or cluster can be deleted, destroying sensitive or critical information. Adversaries with the proper permissions can take advantage of this to set up future deletion events against a compromised environment.

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Identifies the modification of the master password for an AWS RDS DB instance or cluster. DB instances may contain sensitive data that can be abused if accessed by unauthorized actors. Amazon RDS API operations never return the password, so this operation provides a means to regain access if the password is lost. Adversaries with the proper permissions can take advantage of this to evade defenses and gain unauthorized access to a DB instance or cluster to support persistence mechanisms or privilege escalation.

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Identifies an AWS RDS DB snapshot being shared with another AWS account. DB snapshots contain a full backup of an entire DB instance including sensitive data that can be abused if shared with unauthorized accounts or made public. Adversaries may use snapshots to restore a DB Instance in an environment they control as a means of data exfiltration.

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Identifies an AWS S3 bucket policy change to share permissions with an external account. Adversaries may attempt to backdoor an S3 bucket by sharing it with an external account. This can be used to exfiltrate data or to provide access to other adversaries. This rule identifies changes to a bucket policy via the PutBucketPolicy API call where the policy includes an Effect=Allow statement that does not contain the AWS account ID of the bucket owner.

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Identifies when the PutBucketReplication operation is used to replicate S3 objects to a bucket in another AWS account. Adversaries may use bucket replication to exfiltrate sensitive data to an environment they control.

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Identifies CopyObject events within an S3 bucket using an AWS KMS key from an external account for encryption. Adversaries with access to a misconfigured S3 bucket and the proper permissions may encrypt objects with an external KMS key to deny their victims access to their own data.

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Identifies when object versioning is suspended for an Amazon S3 bucket. Object versioning allows for multiple versions of an object to exist in the same bucket. This allows for easy recovery of deleted or overwritten objects. When object versioning is suspended for a bucket, it could indicate an adversary's attempt to inhibit system recovery following malicious activity. Additionally, when versioning is suspended, buckets can then be deleted.

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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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Identifies when a federated user logs into the AWS Management Console without using multi-factor authentication (MFA). Federated users are typically given temporary credentials to access AWS services. If a federated user logs into the AWS Management Console without using MFA, it may indicate a security risk, as MFA adds an additional layer of security to the authentication process. This could also indicate the abuse of STS tokens to bypass MFA requirements.

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Identifies when an SNS topic is subscribed to by an email address of a user who does not typically perform this action. Adversaries may subscribe to an SNS topic to collect sensitive information or exfiltrate data via an external email address.

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Identifies when an AWS Simple Queue Service (SQS) queue is purged. Adversaries may purge SQS queues to disrupt operations, delete messages, or impair monitoring and alerting mechanisms. This action can be used to evade detection and cover tracks by removing evidence of malicious activities.

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Detects the execution of commands or scripts on EC2 instances using AWS Systems Manager (SSM), such as RunShellScript, RunPowerShellScript or custom documents. While legitimate users may employ these commands for management tasks, they can also be exploited by attackers with credentials to establish persistence, install malware, or execute reverse shells for further access to compromised instances. This is a New Terms rule that looks for the first instance of this behavior by the aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn field in the last 7 days.

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Identifies the use of the AWS Systems Manager (SSM) SendCommand API with the either AWS-RunShellScript or AWS-RunPowerShellScript parameters. The SendCommand API call allows users to execute commands on EC2 instances using the SSM service. Adversaries may use this technique to execute commands on EC2 instances without the need for SSH or RDP access. This behavior may indicate an adversary attempting to execute commands on an EC2 instance for malicious purposes. This is a New Terms rule that only flags when this behavior is observed for the first time on a host in the last 7 days.

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Identifies when an AWS Systems Manager (SSM) command document is created by a user who does not typically perform this action. Adversaries may create SSM command documents to execute commands on managed instances, potentially leading to unauthorized access, command and control, data exfiltration and more.

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Identifies role chaining activity. Role chaining is when you use one assumed role to assume a second role through the AWS CLI or API. While this a recognized functionality in AWS, role chaining can be abused for privilege escalation if the subsequent assumed role provides additional privileges. Role chaining can also be used as a persistence mechanism as each AssumeRole action results in a refreshed session token with a 1 hour maximum duration. This rule looks for role chaining activity happening within a single account, to eliminate false positives produced by common cross-account behavior.

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Identifies brute force attempts against Azure Entra multi-factor authentication (MFA) Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) verification codes. This rule detects high frequency failed TOTP code attempts for a single user in a short time-span. Adversaries with valid credentials, when attempting to login to Azure portal or other Azure services, may be prompted to provide a TOTP code as part of the MFA process. If successful, adversaries can bypass MFA and gain unauthorized access to Azure resources.

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Identifies potential brute-force attempts against Microsoft 365 user accounts by detecting a high number of failed interactive or non-interactive login attempts within a 30-minute window. Attackers may attempt to brute force user accounts to gain unauthorized access to Microsoft 365 services via different services such as Exchange, SharePoint, or Teams.

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Identifies potential brute-force attempts against Microsoft 365 user accounts by detecting a high number of failed interactive or non-interactive login attempts within a 30-minute window from a single source. Attackers may attempt to brute force user accounts to gain unauthorized access to Microsoft 365 services via different services such as Exchange, SharePoint, or Teams.

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Adversaries may encode/decode data in an attempt to evade detection by host- or network-based security controls.

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Both ~/.bash_profile and ~/.bashrc are files containing shell commands that are run when Bash is invoked. These files are executed in a user's context, either interactively or non-interactively, when a user logs in so that their environment is set correctly. Adversaries may abuse this to establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by a user’s shell.

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Identifies the execution of a binary by root in Linux shared memory directories: (/dev/shm/, /run/shm/, /var/run/, /var/lock/). This activity is to be considered highly abnormal and should be investigated. Threat actors have placed executables used for persistence on high-uptime servers in these directories as system backdoors.

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Detects when the tc (transmission control) binary is utilized to set a BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) on a network interface. Tc is used to configure Traffic Control in the Linux kernel. It can shape, schedule, police and drop traffic. A threat actor can utilize tc to set a bpf filter on an interface for the purpose of manipulating the incoming traffic. This technique is not at all common and should indicate abnormal, suspicious or malicious activity.

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Identifies the install of browser extensions. Malicious browser extensions can be installed via app store downloads masquerading as legitimate extensions, social engineering, or by an adversary that has already compromised a system.

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Detects the use of the chkconfig binary to manually add a service for management by chkconfig. Threat actors may utilize this technique to maintain persistence on a system. When a new service is added, chkconfig ensures that the service has either a start or a kill entry in every runlevel and when the system is rebooted the service file added will run providing long-term persistence.

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Cobalt Strike is a threat emulation platform commonly modified and used by adversaries to conduct network attack and exploitation campaigns. This rule detects a network activity algorithm leveraged by Cobalt Strike implant beacons for command and control.

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A suspicious SolarWinds child process (Cmd.exe or Powershell.exe) was detected.

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Identifies command shell activity started via RunDLL32, which is commonly abused by attackers to host malicious code.

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Identifies unusual processes connecting to domains using known free SSL certificates. Adversaries may employ a known encryption algorithm to conceal command and control traffic.

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Telnet provides a command line interface for communication with a remote device or server. This rule identifies Telnet network connections to publicly routable IP addresses.

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Telnet provides a command line interface for communication with a remote device or server. This rule identifies Telnet network connections to non-publicly routable IP addresses.

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This rule detects when a container management binary is run from inside a container. These binaries are critical components of many containerized environments, and their presence and execution in unauthorized containers could indicate compromise or a misconfiguration.

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Identifies unusual instances of Control Panel with suspicious keywords or paths in the process command line value. Adversaries may abuse control.exe to proxy execution of malicious code.

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Users can mark specific files as hidden simply by putting a "." as the first character in the file or folder name. Adversaries can use this to their advantage to hide files and folders on the system for persistence and defense evasion. This rule looks for hidden files or folders in common writable directories.

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Identifies the creation of a hidden launch agent or daemon. An adversary may establish persistence by installing a new launch agent or daemon which executes at login.

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Identifies the execution of osascript to create a hidden login item. This may indicate an attempt to persist a malicious program while concealing its presence.

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Identifies the creation of a hidden shared object (.so) file. Users can mark specific files as hidden simply by putting a "." as the first character in the file or folder name. Adversaries can use this to their advantage to hide files and folders on the system for persistence and defense evasion.

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Detects the creation or modification of a new Group Policy based scheduled task or service. These methods are used for legitimate system administration, but can also be abused by an attacker with domain admin permissions to execute a malicious payload remotely on all or a subset of the domain joined machines.

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Identifies the creation or modification of Domain Backup private keys. Adversaries may extract the Data Protection API (DPAPI) domain backup key from a Domain Controller (DC) to be able to decrypt any domain user master key file.

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This rule monitors for the creation or modification of Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) shared object files or configuration files. Attackers may create or modify these files to maintain persistence on a compromised system, or harvest account credentials.

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Elastic Endgame detected Credential Dumping. Click the Elastic Endgame icon in the event.module column or the link in the rule.reference column for additional information.

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Elastic Endgame prevented Credential Dumping. Click the Elastic Endgame icon in the event.module column or the link in the rule.reference column for additional information.

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Elastic Endgame detected Credential Manipulation. Click the Elastic Endgame icon in the event.module column or the link in the rule.reference column for additional information.

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Elastic Endgame prevented Credential Manipulation. Click the Elastic Endgame icon in the event.module column or the link in the rule.reference column for additional information.

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This rule monitors for (ana)cron jobs being created or renamed. Linux cron jobs are scheduled tasks that can be leveraged by system administrators to set up scheduled tasks, but may be abused by malicious actors for persistence, privilege escalation and command execution. By creating or modifying cron job configurations, attackers can execute malicious commands or scripts at predefined intervals, ensuring their continued presence and enabling unauthorized activities.

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This detection rule addresses multiple vulnerabilities in the CUPS printing system, including CVE-2024-47176, CVE-2024-47076, CVE-2024-47175, and CVE-2024-47177. Specifically, this rule detects shell executions from the foomatic-rip parent process. These flaws impact components like cups-browsed, libcupsfilters, libppd, and foomatic-rip, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to manipulate IPP URLs or inject malicious data through crafted UDP packets or network spoofing. This can result in arbitrary command execution when a print job is initiated.

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This rule detects the use of the curl command-line tool with SOCKS proxy options, launched from an unusual parent process. Attackers may use curl to establish a SOCKS proxy connection to bypass network restrictions and exfiltrate data or communicate with C2 servers.

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Identifies the occurrence of a CyberArk Privileged Access Security (PAS) error level audit event. The event.code correlates to the CyberArk Vault Audit Action Code.

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Identifies the occurrence of a CyberArk Privileged Access Security (PAS) non-error level audit event which is recommended for monitoring by the vendor. The event.code correlates to the CyberArk Vault Audit Action Code.

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This rule detects the use of the default Cobalt Strike Team Server TLS certificate. Cobalt Strike is software for Adversary Simulations and Red Team Operations which are security assessments that replicate the tactics and techniques of an advanced adversary in a network. Modifications to the Packetbeat configuration can be made to include MD5 and SHA256 hashing algorithms (the default is SHA1). See the References section for additional information on module configuration.

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Identifies the execution of commonly abused Windows utilities via a delayed Ping execution. This behavior is often observed during malware installation and is consistent with an attacker attempting to evade detection.

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This rule identifies the creation of directories in the /bin directory. The /bin directory contains essential binary files that are required for the system to function properly. The creation of directories in this location could be an attempt to hide malicious files or executables, as these /bin directories usually just contain binaries.

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Detects file creation events in the plugin directories for the Yum package manager. In Linux, DNF (Dandified YUM) is a command-line utility used for handling packages on Fedora-based systems, providing functions for installing, updating, upgrading, and removing software along with managing package repositories. Attackers can backdoor DNF to gain persistence by injecting malicious code into plugins that DNF runs, thereby ensuring continued unauthorized access or control each time DNF is used for package management.

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Identifies changes to the DNS Global Query Block List (GQBL), a security feature that prevents the resolution of certain DNS names often exploited in attacks like WPAD spoofing. Attackers with certain privileges, such as DNSAdmins, can modify or disable the GQBL, allowing exploitation of hosts running WPAD with default settings for privilege escalation and lateral movement.

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A machine learning job detected unusually large numbers of DNS queries for a single top-level DNS domain, which is often used for DNS tunneling. DNS tunneling can be used for command-and-control, persistence, or data exfiltration activity. For example, dnscat tends to generate many DNS questions for a top-level domain as it uses the DNS protocol to tunnel data.

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Identifies when a user enables DNS-over-HTTPS. This can be used to hide internet activity or the process of exfiltrating data. With this enabled, an organization will lose visibility into data such as query type, response, and originating IP, which are used to determine bad actors.

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This rule identifies a UID change event via nsenter. The nsenter command is used to enter a namespace, which is a way to isolate processes and resources. Attackers can use nsenter to escape from a container to the host, which can lead to privilege escalation and lateral movement.

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Identifies .lnk shortcut file downloaded from outside the local network. These shortcut files are commonly used in phishing campaigns.

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Identifies .url shortcut files downloaded from outside the local network. These shortcut files are commonly used in phishing campaigns.

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This rule detects the installation of a Debian package (dpkg) by an unusual parent process. The dpkg command is used to install, remove, and manage Debian packages on a Linux system. Attackers can abuse the dpkg command to install malicious packages on a system.

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Identifies the execution of macOS built-in commands used to dump user account hashes. Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login information in the form of a hash. These hashes can be cracked or leveraged for lateral movement.

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Adversaries may dump the content of the keychain storage data from a system to acquire credentials. Keychains are the built-in way for macOS to keep track of users' passwords and credentials for many services and features, including Wi-Fi and website passwords, secure notes, certificates, and Kerberos.

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This rule detects the creation of the dynamic linker (ld.so) file. The dynamic linker is used to load shared libraries needed by an executable. Attackers may attempt to replace the dynamic linker with a malicious version to execute arbitrary code.

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Detects the copying of the Linux dynamic loader binary and subsequent file creation for the purpose of creating a backup copy. This technique was seen recently being utilized by Linux malware prior to patching the dynamic loader in order to inject and preload a malicious shared object file. This activity should never occur and if it does then it should be considered highly suspicious or malicious.

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Detects the creation or modification of files related to the dynamic linker on Linux systems. The dynamic linker is a shared library that is used by the Linux kernel to load and execute programs. Attackers may attempt to hijack the execution flow of a program by modifying the dynamic linker configuration files.

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Identifies an AWS Amazon Machine Image (AMI) being shared with another AWS account. Adversaries with access may share an AMI with an external AWS account as a means of data exfiltration. AMIs can contain secrets, bash histories, code artifacts, and other sensitive data that adversaries may abuse if shared with unauthorized accounts. AMIs can be made publicly available accidentally as well.

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Identifies the execution of and EggShell Backdoor. EggShell is a known post exploitation tool for macOS and Linux.

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This rule identifies a sequence of events where a process named entrypoint.sh is started in a container, followed by a network connection attempt. This sequence indicates a potential egress connection from an entrypoint in a container. An entrypoint is a command or script specified in the Dockerfile and executed when the container starts. Attackers can use this technique to establish a foothold in the environment, escape from a container to the host, or establish persistence.

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Identifies the Elastic endpoint agent has stopped and is no longer running on the host. Adversaries may attempt to disable security monitoring tools in an attempt to evade detection or prevention capabilities during an intrusion. This may also indicate an issue with the agent itself and should be addressed to ensure defensive measures are back in a stable state.

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Identifies the creation or modification of the Event Monitor Daemon (emond) rules. Adversaries may abuse this service by writing a rule to execute commands when a defined event occurs, such as system start up or user authentication.

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Identifies registry write modifications to hide an encoded portable executable. This could be indicative of adversary defense evasion by avoiding the storing of malicious content directly on disk.

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Identifies native Windows host and network enumeration commands spawned by the Windows Management Instrumentation Provider Service (WMIPrvSE).

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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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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 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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Identifies instances where the 'touch' command is executed on a Linux system with the "-r" flag, which is used to modify the timestamp of a file based on another file's timestamp. The rule targets 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 touch command arguments may indicate that a threat actor is attempting to tamper with timestamps of VM-related files and configurations on the system.

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This rule monitors for the addition of an executable bit for scripts that are located in directories which are commonly abused for persistence. An alert of this rule is an indicator that a persistence mechanism is being set up within your environment. Adversaries may create these scripts to execute malicious code at start-up, or at a set interval to gain persistence onto the system.

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Masquerading can allow an adversary to evade defenses and better blend in with the environment. One way it occurs is when the name or location of a file is manipulated as a means of tricking a user into executing what they think is a benign file type but is actually executable code.

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Monitors for kernel processes with associated process executable fields that are not empty. Unix kernel processes such as kthreadd and kworker typically do not have process.executable fields associated to them. Attackers may attempt to hide their malicious programs by masquerading as legitimate kernel processes.

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Identifies process execution from a removable media and by an unusual process. Adversaries may move onto systems, possibly those on disconnected or air-gapped networks, by copying malware to removable media and taking advantage of Autorun features when the media is inserted into a system and executes.

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Windows Component Object Model (COM) is an inter-process communication (IPC) component of the native Windows application programming interface (API) that enables interaction between software objects or executable code. Xwizard can be used to run a COM object created in registry to evade defensive counter measures.

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Identifies execution of suspicious persistent programs (scripts, rundll32, etc.) by looking at process lineage and command line usage.

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Identifies attempts to execute a child process from within the context of an Electron application using the child_process Node.js module. Adversaries may abuse this technique to inherit permissions from parent processes.

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Identifies the creation, change, or deletion of a DLL module within a Windows SxS local folder. Adversaries may abuse shared modules to execute malicious payloads by instructing the Windows module loader to load DLLs from arbitrary local paths.

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Identifies execution from the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) shared mountpoint tsclient on the target host. This may indicate a lateral movement attempt.

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An adversary can use the Windows command line debugging utility cdb.exe to execute commands or shellcode. This rule looks for those instances and where the cdb.exe binary is outside of the normal WindowsKit installation paths.

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Detects attempts to execute a program on the host from the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Adversaries may enable and use WSL for Linux to avoid detection.

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Identifies execution of the security_authtrampoline process via a scripting interpreter. This occurs when programs use AuthorizationExecute-WithPrivileges from the Security.framework to run another program with root privileges. It should not be run by itself, as this is a sign of execution with explicit logon credentials.

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Identifies an attempt to load a revoked or expired driver. Adversaries may bring outdated drivers with vulnerabilities to gain code execution in kernel mode or abuse revoked certificates to sign their drivers.

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Elastic Endgame detected an Exploit. Click the Elastic Endgame icon in the event.module column or the link in the rule.reference column for additional information.

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Elastic Endgame prevented an Exploit. Click the Elastic Endgame icon in the event.module column or the link in the rule.reference column for additional information.

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This detection rule addresses multiple vulnerabilities in the CUPS printing system, including CVE-2024-47176, CVE-2024-47076, CVE-2024-47175, and CVE-2024-47177. Specifically, this rule detects suspicious file creation events executed by child processes of foomatic-rip. These flaws impact components like cups-browsed, libcupsfilters, libppd, and foomatic-rip, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to manipulate IPP URLs or inject malicious data through crafted UDP packets or network spoofing. This can result in arbitrary command execution when a print job is initiated.

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Identifies modification of a file creation time. Adversaries may modify file time attributes to blend malicious content with existing files. Timestomping is a technique that modifies the timestamps of a file often to mimic files that are in trusted directories.

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This rule monitors for the creation of a file, followed by its execution and self-deletion in a short timespan within a directory often used for malicious purposes by threat actors. This behavior is often used by malware to execute malicious code and delete itself to hide its tracks.

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Malware or other files dropped or created on a system by an adversary may leave traces behind as to what was done within a network and how. Adversaries may remove these files over the course of an intrusion to keep their footprint low or remove them at the end as part of the post-intrusion cleanup process.

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This rule detects when chmod is used to add the execute permission to a file inside a container. Modifying file permissions to make a file executable could indicate malicious activity, as an attacker may attempt to run unauthorized or malicious code inside the container.

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Detects a file being made immutable using the chattr binary. Making a file immutable means it cannot be deleted or renamed, no link can be created to this file, most of the file's metadata can not be modified, and the file can not be opened in write mode. Threat actors will commonly utilize this to prevent tampering or modification of their malicious files or any system files they have modified for purposes of persistence (e.g .ssh, /etc/passwd, etc.).

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Identifies file permission modifications in common writable directories by a non-root user. Adversaries often drop files or payloads into a writable directory and change permissions prior to execution.

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This rule detects the use of the built-in Linux DebugFS utility from inside a privileged container. DebugFS is a special file system debugging utility which supports reading and writing directly from a hard drive device. When launched inside a privileged container, a container deployed with all the capabilities of the host machine, an attacker can access sensitive host level files which could be used for further privilege escalation and container escapes to the host machine.

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A netcat process is engaging in network activity on a Linux host. Netcat is often used as a persistence mechanism by exporting a reverse shell or by serving a shell on a listening port. Netcat is also sometimes used for data exfiltration.

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Finder Sync plugins enable users to extend Finder’s functionality by modifying the user interface. Adversaries may abuse this feature by adding a rogue Finder Plugin to repeatedly execute malicious payloads for persistence.

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Identifies the first occurrence of an AWS Security Token Service (STS) GetFederationToken request made by a user within the last 10 days. The GetFederationToken API call allows users to request temporary security credentials to access AWS resources. Adversaries may use this API to obtain temporary credentials to access resources they would not normally have access to.

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Identifies a new credentials logon type performed by an unusual process. This may indicate the existence of an access token forging capability that are often abused to bypass access control restrictions.

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Identifies newly seen removable devices by device friendly name using registry modification events. While this activity is not inherently malicious, analysts can use those events to aid monitoring for data exfiltration over those devices.

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Identifies the occurrence of a security alert from the Google Workspace alerts center. Google Workspace's security alert center provides an overview of actionable alerts that may be affecting an organization's domain. An alert is a warning of a potential security issue that Google has detected.

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Identifies the enable of the full user-mode dumps feature system-wide. This feature allows Windows Error Reporting (WER) to collect data after an application crashes. This setting is a requirement for the LSASS Shtinkering attack, which fakes the communication of a crash on LSASS, generating a dump of the process memory, which gives the attacker access to the credentials present on the system without having to bring malware to the system. This setting is not enabled by default, and applications must create their registry subkeys to hold settings that enable them to collect dumps.

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This rule detects child processes spawned by Git hooks. Git hooks are scripts that Git executes before or after events such as commit, push, and receive. The rule identifies child processes spawned by Git hooks that are not typically spawned by the Git process itself. This behavior may indicate an attacker attempting to hide malicious activity by leveraging the legitimate Git process to execute unauthorized commands.

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