Elastic Security Detection Rules

Privilege Escalation via CAP_CHOWN/CAP_FOWNER Capabilities

Last updated 6 months ago on 2025-02-04
Created 2 years ago on 2024-01-08

About

Identifies instances where a processes (granted CAP_CHOWN and/or CAP_FOWNER capabilities) is executed, after which the ownership of a suspicious file or binary is changed. In Linux, the CAP_CHOWN capability allows a process to change the owner of a file, while CAP_FOWNER permits it to bypass permission checks on operations that require file ownership (like reading, writing, and executing). Attackers may abuse these capabilities to obtain unauthorized access to files.
Tags
Data Source: Auditd ManagerDomain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068)(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
auditbeat-*logs-auditd_manager.auditd-*logs-endpoint.events.file*logs-endpoint.events.process*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

auditd_manager(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
sequence by host.id, process.pid with maxspan=1s
  [process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
   process.name != null and process.thread.capabilities.effective : ("CAP_CHOWN", "CAP_FOWNER") and
   process.command_line : ("*sudoers*", "*passwd*", "*shadow*", "*/root/*") and user.id != "0"]
  [file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.action == "changed-file-ownership-of" and event.type == "change" and
   event.outcome == "success" and file.path in (
     "/etc/passwd",
     "/etc/shadow",
     "/etc/sudoers",
     "/root/.ssh/*"
   ) and user.id != "0"
  ]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Privilege Escalation via CAP_CHOWN/CAP_FOWNER Capabilities 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).