Potential Backdoor Execution Through PAM_EXEC

Last updated 6 months ago on 2025-07-07
Created 8 months ago on 2025-04-29

About

This rule detects SSH session ID change followed by a suspicious SSHD child process, this may indicate the successful execution of a potentially malicious process through the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) utility. PAM is a framework used by Linux systems to authenticate users. Adversaries may create malicious PAM modules that grant them persistence onto the target every time a user logs in by executing a backdoor script or command.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Credential AccessTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Credential Access (TA0006)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Trusted system module updates or allowed Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) daemon configuration changes.
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*
Related Integrations

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

Query
text code block:
sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=3s [process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "change" and event.action == "session_id_change" and process.name in ("ssh", "sshd")] [process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.parent.name in ("ssh", "sshd") and process.args_count == 2 and ( process.name like ("perl*", "python*", "php*", "ruby*", "lua*") or process.executable like ( "/tmp/*", "/var/tmp/*", "/dev/shm/*", "./*", "/boot/*", "/sys/*", "/lost+found/*", "/media/*", "/proc/*", "/var/backups/*", "/var/log/*", "/var/mail/*", "/var/spool/*") or process.name like ".*" )]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Backdoor Execution Through PAM_EXEC 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).