Elastic Security Detection Rules

Executable File Download via Wget

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-02-09
Created 12 days ago on 2026-01-30

About

Detects executable file downloads via wget to suspicious locations such as /tmp or /Users/Shared. Threat actors commonly use wget to download malicious payloads and additional tools for post-exploitation.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Command and ControlData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Command and Control (TA0011)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Ingress Tool Transfer (T1105)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(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.network-*logs-endpoint.events.file-*
Related Integrations

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

Query
text code block:
sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=30s
  [network where host.os.type == "macos" and event.type == "start" and process.name == "wget"]
  [file where host.os.type == "macos" and event.action == "modification" and 
    process.name == "wget" and 
    file.path like ("/tmp/*", "/private/tmp/*", "/private/var/tmp/*", "/var/tmp/*", "/Users/Shared/*") and
    file.Ext.header_bytes like~ ("cffaedfe*", "cafebabe*")]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Executable File Download via Wget 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).