| ID | Technique | Tactic |
|---|---|---|
| T1543 | Create or Modify System Process | Persistence |
Detection: Cisco Isovalent - Late Process Execution
Description
Detects process executions that occur well after a container has initialized, which can indicate suspicious activity (e.g., interactive shells, injected binaries, or post-compromise tooling). The analytic compares the process start time to the container start time and flags processes launched more than 5 minutes (300 seconds) after initialization.
Search
1`cisco_isovalent_process_exec` process_name="sh"
2
3| rename process_exec.process.start_time as ProcessStartTime
4
5| rename process_exec.process.pod.container.start_time as ContainerStartTime
6
7| eval ProcessStartTime=strptime(ProcessStartTime, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%3Q")
8
9| eval ContainerStartTime=strptime(ContainerStartTime, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%9Q")
10
11| eval ContainerTime5min=relative_time(ContainerStartTime, "+5m")
12
13| where ProcessStartTime > ContainerTime5min
14
15| table node_name cluster_name, pod_name, container_id, process_name, process_exec, process, ProcessStartTime, ContainerTime5min
16| `security_content_ctime(ProcessStartTime)`
17
18| `security_content_ctime(ContainerTime5min)`
19
20| `cisco_isovalent___late_process_execution_filter`
Data Source
| Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco Isovalent Process Exec | Other | 'cisco:isovalent:processExec' |
'not_applicable' |
Macros Used
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| security_content_ctime | convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$) |
| cisco_isovalent___late_process_execution_filter | search * |
cisco_isovalent___late_process_execution_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
MITRE ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phases
NIST
CIS
Threat Actors
Exploitation
Installation
DE.AE
CIS 10
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 Finding (Notable) | No |
| Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event) | Yes |
Anomaly detections generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events). They do not generate a Finding (Notable) directly.
Implementation
The detection is based on process execution data generated by Cisco Isovalent Runtime Security. Ensure that Isovalent Runtime Security is deployed and configured in your Kubernetes environment to emit process_exec events. Configure the Cisco Security Cloud TA to collect these logs via HTTP Event Collector (HEC) and normalize them into the Splunk Common Information Model. This integration ensures that all relevant pod, container, and process activity is captured for monitoring and detection of suspicious behavior.
Known False Positives
This activity may be triggered by legitimate administrative scripts, container images, or third-party operators that use cron for scheduled tasks, so please investigate the alert in context to rule out benign operations.
Associated Analytic Story
Intermediate Findings
| Message | Entity Field | Entity Type | Risk Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late process execution [$process_name$] detected in pod [$pod_name$] | pod_name | system | 20 |
Threat Objects
| Field | Type |
|---|---|
| process_name | process_name |
References
Detection Testing
| Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | not_applicable |
cisco:isovalent:processExec |
| Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | not_applicable |
cisco:isovalent:processExec |
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: 5