Detection: Detect Baron Samedit CVE-2021-3156

EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION

This detection status is set to experimental. The Splunk Threat Research team has not yet fully tested, simulated, or built comprehensive datasets for this detection. As such, this analytic is not officially supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2025-05-02 ID: 93fbec4e-0375-440c-8db3-4508eca470c4 Author: Shannon Davis, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects attempts to exploit the Baron Samedit vulnerability (CVE-2021-3156) by identifying the use of the "sudoedit -s \" command. This detection leverages logs from Linux systems, specifically searching for instances of the sudoedit command with the "-s" flag followed by a double quote. This activity is significant because it indicates an attempt to exploit a known vulnerability that allows attackers to gain root privileges. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to complete system compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive data, and potential data breaches.

1`linux_hosts` "sudoedit -s \\" 
2| `detect_baron_samedit_cve_2021_3156_filter`

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name Value
linux_hosts index=unix
detect_baron_samedit_cve_2021_3156_filter search *
detect_baron_samedit_cve_2021_3156_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
ID Technique Tactic
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Exploitation
DE.CM
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 Notable Yes
Rule Title %name%
Rule Description %description%
Notable Event Fields user, dest
Creates Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

Splunk Universal Forwarder running on Linux systems, capturing logs from the /var/log directory. The vulnerability is exposed when a non privledged user tries passing in a single \ character at the end of the command while using the shell and edit flags.

Known False Positives

unknown

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Potential Baron Samedit behavior on $dest$

Risk Object Risk Object Type Risk Score Threat Objects
dest system 25 No Threat Objects

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation Not Applicable N/A N/A N/A
Unit ❌ Failing N/A N/A N/A
Integration ❌ Failing N/A N/A N/A

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: 6