Potential Hex Payload Execution via Command-Line

Last updated 2 months ago on 2025-10-17

Created 8 months ago on 2025-04-29

About

This rule detects when a process executes a command line containing hexadecimal characters. Malware authors may use hexadecimal encoding to obfuscate their payload and evade detection.

Tags

Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: eql

Severity

low

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Obfuscated Files or Information (T1027)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information (T1140)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ User Execution (T1204)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License

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

Definition

Rule Type

Event Correlation Rule

Integration Pack

Prebuilt Security Detection Rules

Index Patterns

logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*

Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action in ("exec", "ProcessRollup2") and
?process.parent.executable != null and
process.command_line : "*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*\\x*" and
length(process.command_line) > 50

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Hex Payload Execution via Command-Line 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(external, opens in a new tab or window).