Potential Shadow File Read via Command Line Utilitiesedit
Identifies access to the /etc/shadow file via the commandline using standard system utilities. After elevating privileges to root, threat actors may attempt to read or dump this file in order to gain valid credentials. They may utilize these to move laterally undetected and access additional resources.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- auditbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
Severity: medium
Risk score: 47
Runs every: 5 minutes
Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Host
- Linux
- Threat Detection
- Privilege Escalation
- Credential Access
Version: 2 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 8.5.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.6.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Rule queryedit
process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
user.name == "root" and (process.args : "/etc/shadow" or
(process.working_directory: "/etc" and process.args: "shadow")) and
not process.executable: ("/usr/bin/tar", "/bin/tar",
"/usr/bin/gzip", "/bin/gzip", "/usr/bin/zip",
"/bin/zip", "/usr/bin/stat", "/bin/stat",
"/usr/bin/cmp", "/bin/cmp", "/usr/bin/sudo",
"/bin/sudo", "/usr/bin/find", "/bin/find",
"/usr/bin/ls", "/bin/ls", "/usr/bin/uniq", "/bin/uniq",
"/usr/bin/unzip", "/bin/unzip") and not
process.parent.executable: "/bin/dracut"
Threat mappingedit
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
-
Technique:
- Name: Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
- ID: T1068
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1068/
-
Tactic:
- Name: Credential Access
- ID: TA0006
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0006/
-
Technique:
- Name: OS Credential Dumping
- ID: T1003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1003/
Rule version historyedit
- Version 2 (8.6.0 release)
-
- Rule name changed from: Shadow File Read via Command Line Utilities
-
Updated query, changed from:
process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and user.name == "root" and process.args : "/etc/shadow" and not process.executable: ("/usr/bin/find", "/usr/bin/cmp", "/bin/ls", "/usr/sbin/restorecon", "/usr/bin/uniq") and not process.parent.executable: "/bin/dracut"