Security File Access via Common Utilities

Last updated 13 days ago on 2025-12-12
Created a year ago on 2024-11-04

About

This rule detects sensitive security file access via common utilities on Linux systems. Adversaries may attempt to read from sensitive files using common utilities to gather information about the system and its security configuration.
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)(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
text code block:
process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action in ("exec", "exec_event", "start", "ProcessRollup2") and process.name in ("cat", "less", "more", "strings", "find", "xargs") and process.parent.executable != null and process.args like ( "/etc/security/*", "/etc/pam.d/*", "/etc/login.defs", "/lib/security/*", "/lib64/security/*", "/usr/lib/security/*", "/usr/lib64/security/*", "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/security/*", "/home/*/.aws/credentials", "/home/*/.aws/config", "/home/*/.config/gcloud/*credentials.json", "/home/*/.config/gcloud/configurations/config_default", "/home/*/.azure/accessTokens.json", "/home/*/.azure/azureProfile.json" ) and not ( process.parent.name in ("wazuh-modulesd", "lynis") or process.command_line in ("cat /etc/login.defs" , "cat /home/asterisk/.aws/credentials") or ?process.parent.command_line in ( "/bin/sh /usr/sbin/lynis audit system --cronjob", "/usr/bin/find -L /etc/security/limits.conf /etc/security/limits.d -type f -exec /usr/bin/cat {} ;", "/usr/bin/find /etc/security/limits.conf /etc/security/limits.d -type f -exec /usr/bin/cat {} ;" ) or ?process.parent.args in ("/opt/imperva/ragent/bin/get_sys_resources.sh", "/usr/sbin/lynis", "./terra_linux.sh") or process.args == "/usr/bin/coreutils" or (process.parent.name == "pwsh" and process.parent.command_line like "*Evaluate-STIG*") or ?process.parent.executable == "/usr/sap/audit_scripts/auto_audit_gral.sh" )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Security File Access via Common Utilities 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).