Sigma Rules
809 rules found for "privilege-escalation"
Privileged User Has Been Created
Detects the addition of a new user to a privileged group such as "root" or "sudo"
Linux Doas Conf File Creation
Detects the creation of doas.conf file in linux host platform.
Persistence Via Sudoers.d Files
Detects the creation or modification of files within the "sudoers.d" directory on Linux systems. Such activity may indicate an attempt to establish or maintain privilege escalation by granting specific users elevated permissions. Unauthorized changes to sudoers files are a common technique used by attackers to persist administrative access.
New Cron File Created
Detects the creation of cron files in Cron directories, which could indicate potential persistence mechanisms being established by an attacker. Note that not all cron file creations are malicious - legitimate system administration activities and software installations may also create cron files. This detection should be investigated in context, considering factors such as the user creating the file, the timing of creation, and the contents of the cron job. Focus investigation on unexpected cron files created by non-administrative users or during suspicious timeframes. Additionally, it is recommended to review the contents of the newly created cron files to assess their intent. Furthermore, it is suggested to baseline normal cron file creation and apply additional filters to reduce false positives based on the specific environment.
Triple Cross eBPF Rootkit Default Persistence
Detects the creation of "ebpfbackdoor" files in both "cron.d" and "sudoers.d" directories. Which both are related to the TripleCross persistence method
Shell Invocation via Apt - Linux
Detects the use of the "apt" and "apt-get" commands to execute a shell or proxy commands. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
Scheduled Task/Job At
Detects the use of at/atd which are utilities that are used to schedule tasks. They are often abused by adversaries to maintain persistence or to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code
Capabilities Discovery - Linux
Detects usage of "getcap" binary. This is often used during recon activity to determine potential binaries that can be abused as GTFOBins or other.
Linux Setgid Capability Set on a Binary via Setcap Utility
Detects the use of the 'setcap' utility to set the 'setgid' capability (cap_setgid) on a binary file. This capability allows a non privileged process to make arbitrary manipulations of group IDs (GIDs), including setting its current GID to a value that would otherwise be restricted (i.e. GID 0, the root group). This behavior can be used by adversaries to backdoor a binary in order to escalate privileges again in the future if needed.
Linux Setuid Capability Set on a Binary via Setcap Utility
Detects the use of the 'setcap' utility to set the 'setuid' capability (cap_setuid) on a binary file. This capability allows a non privileged process to make arbitrary manipulations of user IDs (UIDs), including setting its current UID to a value that would otherwise be restricted (i.e. UID 0, the root user). This behavior can be used by adversaries to backdoor a binary in order to escalate privileges again in the future if needed.
Linux Sudo Chroot Execution
Detects the execution of 'sudo' command with '--chroot' option, which is used to change the root directory for command execution. Attackers may use this technique to evade detection and execute commands in a modified environment. This can be part of a privilege escalation strategy, as it allows the execution of commands with elevated privileges in a controlled environment as seen in CVE-2025-32463. While investigating, look out for unusual or unexpected use of 'sudo --chroot' in conjunction with other commands or scripts such as execution from temporary directories or unusual user accounts.
Potential Linux Process Code Injection Via DD Utility
Detects the injection of code by overwriting the memory map of a Linux process using the "dd" Linux command.
Linux Doas Tool Execution
Detects the doas tool execution in linux host platform. This utility tool allow standard users to perform tasks as root, the same way sudo does.
ESXi Admin Permission Assigned To Account Via ESXCLI
Detects execution of the "esxcli" command with the "system" and "permission" flags in order to assign admin permissions to an account.
Shell Execution via Find - Linux
Detects the use of the find command to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or exploitation attempt.
Shell Execution via Flock - Linux
Detects the use of the "flock" command to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
Shell Execution GCC - Linux
Detects the use of the "gcc" utility to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
Shell Execution via Git - Linux
Detects the use of the "git" utility to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
Shell Execution via Nice - Linux
Detects the use of the "nice" utility to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
OMIGOD SCX RunAsProvider ExecuteScript
Rule to detect the use of the SCX RunAsProvider ExecuteScript to execute any UNIX/Linux script using the /bin/sh shell. Script being executed gets created as a temp file in /tmp folder with a scx* prefix. Then it is invoked from the following directory /etc/opt/microsoft/scx/conf/tmpdir/. The file in that directory has the same prefix scx*. SCXcore, started as the Microsoft Operations Manager UNIX/Linux Agent, is now used in a host of products including Microsoft Operations Manager, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Operations Management Suite.
OMIGOD SCX RunAsProvider ExecuteShellCommand
Rule to detect the use of the SCX RunAsProvider Invoke_ExecuteShellCommand to execute any UNIX/Linux command using the /bin/sh shell. SCXcore, started as the Microsoft Operations Manager UNIX/Linux Agent, is now used in a host of products including Microsoft Operations Manager, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Operations Management Suite.
Shell Execution via Rsync - Linux
Detects the use of the "rsync" utility to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
Scheduled Cron Task/Job - Linux
Detects abuse of the cron utility to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code. Detection will focus on crontab jobs uploaded from the tmp folder.
Setuid and Setgid
Detects suspicious change of file privileges with chown and chmod commands
Shell Invocation Via Ssh - Linux
Detects the use of the "ssh" utility to execute a shell. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
Potential Discovery Activity Using Find - Linux
Detects usage of "find" binary in a suspicious manner to perform discovery
Triple Cross eBPF Rootkit Execve Hijack
Detects execution of a the file "execve_hijack" which is used by the Triple Cross rootkit as a way to elevate privileges
User Added To Root/Sudoers Group Using Usermod
Detects usage of the "usermod" binary to add users add users to the root or suoders groups
Vim GTFOBin Abuse - Linux
Detects the use of "vim" and it's siblings commands to execute a shell or proxy commands. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
MacOS Emond Launch Daemon
Detects additions to the Emond Launch Daemon that adversaries may use to gain persistence and elevate privileges.
Startup Item File Created - MacOS
Detects the creation of a startup item plist file, that automatically get executed at boot initialization to establish persistence. Adversaries may use startup items automatically executed at boot initialization to establish persistence. Startup items execute during the final phase of the boot process and contain shell scripts or other executable files along with configuration information used by the system to determine the execution order for all startup items.
User Added To Admin Group Via Dscl
Detects attempts to create and add an account to the admin group via "dscl"
User Added To Admin Group Via DseditGroup
Detects attempts to create and/or add an account to the admin group, thus granting admin privileges.
Root Account Enable Via Dsenableroot
Detects attempts to enable the root account via "dsenableroot"
Launch Agent/Daemon Execution Via Launchctl
Detects the execution of programs as Launch Agents or Launch Daemons using launchctl on macOS.
Potential Persistence Via PlistBuddy
Detects potential persistence activity using LaunchAgents or LaunchDaemons via the PlistBuddy utility
Scheduled Cron Task/Job - MacOs
Detects abuse of the cron utility to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code. Detection will focus on crontab jobs uploaded from the tmp folder.
Potential Discovery Activity Using Find - MacOS
Detects usage of "find" binary in a suspicious manner to perform discovery
User Added To Admin Group Via Sysadminctl
Detects attempts to create and add an account to the admin group via "sysadminctl"
Guest Account Enabled Via Sysadminctl
Detects attempts to enable the guest account using the sysadminctl utility
Cisco Local Accounts
Find local accounts being created or modified as well as remote authentication configurations
Cisco Modify Configuration
Modifications to a config that will serve an adversary's impacts or persistence
Cisco BGP Authentication Failures
Detects BGP failures which may be indicative of brute force attacks to manipulate routing
Cisco LDP Authentication Failures
Detects LDP failures which may be indicative of brute force attacks to manipulate MPLS labels
FortiGate - User Group Modified
Detects the modification of a user group on a Fortinet FortiGate Firewall. The group could be used to grant VPN access to a network.
Huawei BGP Authentication Failures
Detects BGP failures which may be indicative of brute force attacks to manipulate routing.
Juniper BGP Missing MD5
Detects juniper BGP missing MD5 digest. Which may be indicative of brute force attacks to manipulate routing.
MITRE BZAR Indicators for Execution
Windows DCE-RPC functions which indicate an execution techniques on the remote system. All credit for the Zeek mapping of the suspicious endpoint/operation field goes to MITRE