File Downloaded by Curl/Wget and Piped to Interpreter

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-08-19
Created 2 days ago on 2026-08-19

About

This rule detects when a file is downloaded by curl or wget, and piped to an interpreter. Attackers may use this technique to download and execute payloads for various malicious purposes, such as establishing persistence or exfiltrating data.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: Command and ControlTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

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

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(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*
Related Integrations

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

Query
text code block:
sequence by host.id, process.parent.entity_id, process.working_directory with maxspan=1s [process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.name in ("curl", "wget") and ( /* IP address and path */ process.command_line regex ".*[0-9]{1,3}\\.[0-9]{1,3}\\.[0-9]{1,3}\\.[0-9]{1,3}(:[0-9]{1,5})?\\/[^ ]+.*" or /* URL and path */ process.command_line regex ".*[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9\\-]*(\\.[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9\\-]*)+(:[0-9]{1,5})?\\/[^ ]+.*" ) and process.args_count <= 3 and ( process.parent.name in ("bash", "dash", "sh", "tcsh", "csh", "zsh", "ksh", "fish", "busybox", "node", "deno", "ash", "mksh", "pwsh") or process.parent.name like (".*", "python*", "perl*", "ruby*", "lua*", "php*") or process.parent.executable like ( "/tmp/*", "/var/tmp/*", "/dev/shm/*", "./*", "/run/*", "/var/run/*", "/boot/*", "/sys/*", "/lost+found/*", "/proc/*", "/var/mail/*", "/var/www/*", "/dev/fd/*", "?memfd:*", "memfd:*" ) ) and not ( process.args in ("-h", "--help", "-V", "--version", "--output", "-O") or process.args like ("--output*", "-o*", "--remote-name*") or process.command_line like ("*127.0.0.1*", "*localhost*", "*artifacts.elastic.co*", "*ela.st*", "*elastic.co*") )] [process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "end" and event.action == "end" and process.name like ( "bash", "dash", "sh", "tcsh", "csh", "zsh", "ksh", "fish", "python*", "perl*", "ruby*", "lua*", "php*", "node" ) and process.args_count == 1 and process.args like ( "-bash", "-dash", "-sh", "-tcsh", "-csh", "-zsh", "-ksh", "-fish", "-ash", "-mksh", "-pwsh", "bash", "dash", "sh", "tcsh", "csh", "zsh", "ksh", "fish", "ash", "mksh", "pwsh", "/bin/bash", "/bin/dash", "/bin/sh", "/bin/tcsh", "/bin/zsh", "/bin/ksh", "/bin/fish", "/bin/csh", "/bin/ash", "/bin/mksh", "/bin/pwsh", "/usr/bin/bash", "/usr/bin/dash", "/usr/bin/sh", "/usr/bin/tcsh", "/usr/bin/csh", "/usr/bin/zsh", "/usr/bin/ksh", "/usr/bin/fish", "/usr/bin/ash", "/usr/bin/mksh", "/usr/bin/pwsh", "/usr/local/bin/bash", "/usr/local/bin/dash", "/usr/local/bin/sh", "/usr/local/bin/tcsh", "/usr/local/bin/csh", "/usr/local/bin/zsh", "/usr/local/bin/ksh", "/usr/local/bin/fish", "/usr/local/bin/ash", "/usr/local/bin/mksh", "/usr/local/bin/pwsh", "python*", "/bin/python*", "/usr/bin/python*", "/usr/local/bin/python*", "perl*", "/bin/perl*", "/usr/bin/perl*", "/usr/local/bin/perl*", "ruby*", "/bin/ruby*", "/usr/bin/ruby*", "/usr/local/bin/ruby*", "lua*", "/bin/lua*", "/usr/bin/lua*", "/usr/local/bin/lua*", "php*", "/bin/php*", "/usr/bin/php*", "/usr/local/bin/php*", "node", "/bin/node", "/usr/bin/node", "/usr/local/bin/node", "/dev/fd/*", "?memfd:*", "memfd:*" ) ]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect File Downloaded by Curl/Wget and Piped to Interpreter 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).