Elastic Security Detection Rules

Kill Command Execution

Last updated 10 days ago on 2025-02-21
Created 10 days ago on 2025-02-21

About

This rule detects the execution of kill, pkill, and killall commands on Linux systems. These commands are used to terminate processes on a system. Attackers may use these commands to kill security tools or other processes to evade detection or disrupt system operations.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: kuery
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Hide Artifacts (T1564)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Impair Defenses (T1562)(opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
New Terms Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.process*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
event.category:process and host.os.type:linux and event.type:start and event.action:exec and
process.name:(kill or pkill or killall)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Kill Command Execution 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).