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Description

The following analytic detects the creation of files in the /etc/profile.d directory on Linux systems. It leverages filesystem data to identify new files in this directory, which is often used by adversaries for persistence by executing scripts upon system boot. This activity is significant as it may indicate an attempt to maintain long-term access to the compromised host. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges each time the system boots, potentially leading to further compromise and data exfiltration.

  • Type: Anomaly
  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
  • Datamodel: Endpoint
  • Last Updated: 2024-05-16
  • Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
  • ID: 46ba0082-61af-11ec-9826-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1546.004 Unix Shell Configuration Modification Privilege Escalation, Persistence
T1546 Event Triggered Execution Privilege Escalation, Persistence
Kill Chain Phase
  • Exploitation
  • Installation
NIST
  • DE.AE
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Filesystem where Filesystem.file_path IN ("*/etc/profile.d/*") by Filesystem.dest Filesystem.file_create_time Filesystem.file_name Filesystem.process_guid Filesystem.file_path 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Filesystem)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `linux_file_creation_in_profile_directory_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: linux_file_creation_in_profile_directory_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Required fields

List of fields required to use this analytic.

  • _time
  • Filesystem.dest
  • Filesystem.file_create_time
  • Filesystem.file_name
  • Filesystem.process_guid
  • Filesystem.file_path

How To Implement

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the file name, file path, and process_guid executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you can use the Add-on for Linux Sysmon from Splunkbase.

Known False Positives

Administrator or network operator can create file in profile.d folders for automation purposes. Please update the filter macros to remove false positives.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
56.0 70 80 A file $file_name$ is created in $file_path$ on $dest$

:information_source: The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

Reference

Test Dataset

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 | version: 2