Root Certificate Installation

Last updated 7 days ago on 2025-01-24
Created 5 months ago on 2024-08-28

About

This rule detects the installation of root certificates on a Linux system. Adversaries may install a root certificate on a compromised system to avoid warnings when connecting to their command and control servers. Root certificates are used in public key cryptography to identify a root certificate authority (CA). When a root certificate is installed, the system or application will trust certificates in the root's chain of trust that have been signed by the root certificate.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Elastic EndgameLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(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
logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*endgame-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(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") and
process.name in ("update-ca-trust", "update-ca-certificates") and not (
  process.parent.name like (
    "ca-certificates.postinst", "ca-certificates-*.trigger", "pacman", "pamac-daemon", "autofirma.postinst",
    "ipa-client-install", "su", "platform-python", "python*", "kesl", "execd", "systemd", "flock"
  ) or
  process.parent.args like "/var/tmp/rpm*" or
  (process.parent.name in ("sh", "bash", "zsh") and process.args == "-e")
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Root Certificate Installation 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).