Unix Socket Connection

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 2 years ago on 2023-09-04

About

This rule monitors for inter-process communication via Unix sockets. Adversaries may attempt to communicate with local Unix sockets to enumerate application details, find vulnerabilities/configuration mistakes and potentially escalate privileges or set up malicious communication channels via Unix sockets for inter-process communication to attempt to evade detection.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Auditd ManagerData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Execution (TA0002)(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
auditbeat-*endgame-*logs-auditd_manager.auditd-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

auditd_manager(opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and
 event.action in ("exec", "exec_event", "start", "ProcessRollup2", "executed", "process_started") and
 (
  (process.name in ("nc", "ncat", "netcat", "nc.openbsd") and
   process.args == "-U" and process.args : ("/usr/local/*", "/run/*", "/var/run/*")) or
  (process.name == "socat" and
   process.args == "-" and process.args : ("UNIX-CLIENT:/usr/local/*", "UNIX-CLIENT:/run/*", "UNIX-CLIENT:/var/run/*")) or
  (process.name == "curl" and process.args : ("--unix-socket", "--abstract-unix-socket"))
) and
not (
  process.args == "/var/run/libvirt/libvirt-sock" or
  process.parent.name in ("bundle", "ruby", "haproxystatus.sh")
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Unix Socket Connection 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).