Private Key Searching Activity

Last updated 9 months ago on 2025-03-20

Created a year 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

MITRE ATT&CK™

Discovery (TA0007)(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

endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*

Related Integrations

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

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

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

Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗process 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(external, opens in a new tab or window).