Elastic Security Detection Rules

Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) Source Download

Last updated 2 months ago on 2025-10-17
Created a year ago on 2024-12-16

About

This rule detects the usage of `curl` or `wget` to download the source code of a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) shared object file. Attackers may download the source code of a PAM shared object file to create a backdoor in the authentication process.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Credential AccessTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Create or Modify System Process (T1543)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Credential Access (TA0006)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Modify Authentication Process (T1556)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Trusted system module updates or allowed Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) daemon configuration changes.
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*endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*
Related Integrations

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

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

Query
text code block:
process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action in ("exec", "exec_event", "ProcessRollup2") and
process.name in ("curl", "wget") and
process.args like~ "https://github.com/linux-pam/linux-pam/releases/download/v*/Linux-PAM-*.tar.xz"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) Source Download 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).