Polkit Policy Creation

Last updated 8 days ago on 2025-01-23
Created 15 days ago on 2025-01-16

About

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.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Credential AccessTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Elastic EndgameLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(opens in a new tab or window)

Credential Access (TA0006)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.file*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*endgame-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "creation" and process.executable != null and
file.extension in ("rules", "pkla", "policy") and file.path like~ (

  // Rule files
  "/etc/polkit-1/rules.d/*", "/usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d/*",

  // pkla files
  "/etc/polkit-1/localauthority/*", "/var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/*",

  // Action files
  "/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/*",

  // Misc. legacy paths
  "/lib/polkit-1/rules.d/*", "/lib64/polkit-1/rules.d/*", "/var/lib/polkit-1/rules.d/*"
) and not (
  process.executable in (
    "/bin/dpkg", "/usr/bin/dpkg", "/bin/dockerd", "/usr/bin/dockerd", "/usr/sbin/dockerd", "/bin/microdnf",
    "/usr/bin/microdnf", "/bin/rpm", "/usr/bin/rpm", "/bin/snapd", "/usr/bin/snapd", "/bin/yum", "/usr/bin/yum",
    "/bin/dnf", "/usr/bin/dnf", "/bin/podman", "/usr/bin/podman", "/bin/dnf-automatic", "/usr/bin/dnf-automatic",
    "/bin/pacman", "/usr/bin/pacman", "/usr/bin/dpkg-divert", "/bin/dpkg-divert", "/sbin/apk", "/usr/sbin/apk",
    "/usr/local/sbin/apk", "/usr/bin/apt", "/usr/sbin/pacman", "/bin/podman", "/usr/bin/podman", "/usr/bin/puppet",
    "/bin/puppet", "/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/puppet", "/usr/bin/chef-client", "/bin/chef-client",
    "/bin/autossl_check", "/usr/bin/autossl_check", "/proc/self/exe", "/dev/fd/*",  "/usr/bin/pamac-daemon",
    "/bin/pamac-daemon", "/usr/lib/snapd/snapd", "/usr/local/bin/dockerd", "/usr/bin/crio", "/usr/sbin/crond",
    "/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/ruby", "/usr/libexec/platform-python", "/kaniko/kaniko-executor",
    "/usr/local/bin/dockerd", "/usr/bin/podman", "/bin/install", "/proc/self/exe", "/usr/lib/systemd/systemd",
    "/usr/sbin/sshd", "/usr/bin/gitlab-runner", "/opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/ruby", "/usr/sbin/gdm", "/usr/bin/install",
    "/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dcregister", "/usr/local/bin/pacman"
  ) or
process.executable like~ (
    "/nix/store/*", "/var/lib/dpkg/*", "/tmp/vmis.*", "/snap/*", "/dev/fd/*", "/usr/lib/virtualbox/*"
  )
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Polkit Policy Creation in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).