Elastic Security Detection Rules

Private Key Searching Activity

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 9 months ago on 2024-11-04

About

This rule detects private key searching activity on Linux systems. Searching for private keys can be an indication of an attacker attempting to escalate privileges or exfiltrate sensitive information.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: DiscoveryData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Elastic EndgameLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Discovery (TA0007)(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
endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(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") and process.name == "find" and
  process.command_line like ("*id_dsa*", "*id_rsa*", "*id_ed*", "*id_ecdsa*", "*id_xmss*", "*id_dh*") and
  process.command_line like ("*/home/*", "*/etc/ssh*", "*/root/*", "/")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Private Key Searching Activity 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).