ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1489 | Service Stop | Impact |
Detection: Linux Auditd Stop Services
Description
The following analytic detects attempts to stop or clear a service on Linux systems. It leverages data from Linux Auditd, focusing on processes like "systemctl," "service," and "svcadm" executing stop commands. This activity is significant as adversaries often terminate security or critical services to disable defenses or disrupt operations, as seen in malware like Industroyer2. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to the disabling of security mechanisms, allowing attackers to persist, escalate privileges, or deploy destructive payloads, severely impacting system integrity and availability.
Search
1`linux_auditd` type=SERVICE_STOP
2| rename host as dest
3| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by type pid UID comm exe dest
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
6| `linux_auditd_stop_services_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
Linux Auditd Service Stop | Linux | 'linux:audit' |
'/var/log/audit/audit.log' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
linux_auditd | sourcetype="linux:audit" |
linux_auditd_stop_services_filter | search * |
linux_auditd_stop_services_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
Default Configuration
This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Disabled | true |
Cron Schedule | 0 * * * * |
Earliest Time | -70m@m |
Latest Time | -10m@m |
Schedule Window | auto |
Creates Notable | Yes |
Rule Title | %name% |
Rule Description | %description% |
Notable Event Fields | user, dest |
Creates Risk Event | True |
Implementation
To implement this detection, the process begins by ingesting auditd data, that consist SYSCALL, TYPE, EXECVE and PROCTITLE events, which captures command-line executions and process details on Unix/Linux systems. These logs should be ingested and processed using Splunk Add-on for Unix and Linux (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/833), which is essential for correctly parsing and categorizing the data. The next step involves normalizing the field names to match the field names set by the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to ensure consistency across different data sources and enhance the efficiency of data modeling. This approach enables effective monitoring and detection of linux endpoints where auditd is deployed
Known False Positives
Administrator or network operator can use this application for automation purposes. Please update the filter macros to remove false positives.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
A service event - [$type$] event occured on host - [$dest$] to stop or disable a service. | 49 | 70 | 70 |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | /var/log/audit/audit.log |
linux:audit |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | /var/log/audit/audit.log |
linux:audit |
Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py
tool or the UI.
Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range
Source: GitHub | Version: 1