Elastic Security Detection Rules

Unusual SSHD Child Process

Last updated 7 months ago on 2025-01-24
Created 8 months ago on 2024-12-16

About

This rule detects the creation of an unusual SSHD child process through the usage of the `new_terms` rule type. Attackers may abuse SSH to maintain persistence on a compromised system, or to establish a backdoor for remote access, potentially resulting in an unusual SSHD child process being created.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Event Triggered Execution (T1546)(opens in a new tab or window)

Lateral Movement (TA0008)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Remote Services (T1021)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Remote Service Session Hijacking (T1563)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

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

Definition

Rule Type
New Terms Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.process*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
event.category:process and host.os.type:linux and event.type:start and event.action:exec and
process.parent.name:(ssh or sshd) and process.args_count:2 and
not (
  process.command_line:(-bash or -zsh or -sh) or
  process.name:(ractrans or exectask or tty or tput or ferny-askpass or id or ip)
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Unusual SSHD Child Process 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).