Process Execution Followed by Self-Deletion

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-08-19

Created 2 days ago on 2026-08-19

About

Detects a process execution followed by immediate self-deletion, a common technique used by adversaries to remove traces of their activity on the system. This pattern is often observed in malware and APT campaigns.

Tags

Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Indicator Removal (T1070)(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: logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-endpoint.events.file*
Related Integrations: endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗sequence by process.entity_id, host.id with maxspan=30s
  [process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and 
  process.executable like (
    "/tmp/*", "/var/tmp/*", "/dev/shm/*", "/run/*", "/var/run/*", "/var/www/*",
    "/proc/*/fd/*", "?memfd:*", "memfd:*"
  )] by process.executable
  [file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.action == "deletion"] by file.path

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Process Execution Followed by Self-Deletion 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).