Mknod Process Activityedit

The Linux mknod program is sometimes used in the command payload of a remote command injection (RCI) and other exploits. It is used to export a command shell when the traditional version of netcat is not available to the payload.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

  • auditbeat-*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-6m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum signals per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Linux

Version: 2 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.7.0

Potential false positivesedit

Mknod is a Linux system program. Some normal use of this program, at varying levels of frequency, may originate from scripts, automation tools, and frameworks. Usage by web servers is more likely to be suspicious.

Rule queryedit

process.name:mknod and event.action:executed

Rule version historyedit

Version 2 (7.7.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process.name: mknod and event.action:executed