Security Tooling Enumeration

Description

Detects a sequence where the same parent process executes several distinct "systemctl", "service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", or "pgrep" commands to check for known security tooling within 3 seconds. Repeated identical command lines are de-duplicated, helping identify rapid multi-command security software discovery rather than a single enumeration attempt.

Query · eql

sequence by process.parent.entity_id with maxspan=3s
  [process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.parent.executable != null and
  (
    process.name in ("service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", "pgrep") or
    process.name == "systemctl" and process.args in ("is-enabled", "show", "is-active", "status", "list-units")
  ) and
  process.args in (
    "avast", "bdsec", "cylancesvc", "cyoptics", "cbsensor", "cpla", "itsm", "cloudmonitor", "falcon-sensor", "cybereason-sensor",
    "elastic-agent", "sraagent", "eraagent", "eea", "eea-user-agent", "xagt", "keeperx", "kesl", "klnagent64", "kesl-supervisor",
    "kics", "kess", "rocketcyber", "limacharlie", "lr-agent.logrhythm", "MFEcma", "mdatp", "osqueryd", "traps_pmd", "ir_agent",
    "armor", "sophoslinuxsensor", "sophos-spl", "otelcol-sumo", "ds_agent", "titanagent", "taniumclient", "oneavd", "mbdaemon",
    "wazuh-agent", "emit_scand_service", "f-secure-linuxsecurity-activate"
  ) and not (
    process.parent.executable in (
      "/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/ruby", "/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/puppet", "/opt/sophos-spl/base/bin/SulDownloader",
      "/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dctaskengine", "/usr/bin/newrelic-infra", "/usr/bin/puppet",
      "/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_agents", "/opt/chef/bin/chef-client", "/opt/chef/embedded/bin/ruby",
      "/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dcinventory", "/opt/scripts/puppet/puppetrun", "/usr/bin/chef-client"
    ) or
    process.parent.executable like (
      "/opt/sophos-spl/base/bin/SulDownloader.*", "/opt/rapid7/ir_agent/components/bootstrap/*/bootstrap_upgrader",
      "/usr/local/rapid7/ir_agent/components/bootstrap/*/bootstrap_upgrader", "/tmp/newroot/opt/chef/bin/chef-client",
      "/usr/lib/venv-salt-minion/bin/python.original", "/etc/checkpoint/common/install_offline.sh",
      "/tmp/newroot/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dctaskengine",
      "/proc/self/fd/*/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dctaskengine",
      "/host/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/ruby"
    ) or 
    process.parent.args like (
      "/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_agents", "/usr/bin/puppet", "/home/*/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-*/AnsiballZ_*.py",
      "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-*/AnsiballZ_*.py", "/var/tmp/rpm-tmp*", "/var/lib/dpkg/info/cybereason-sensor.prerm",
      "/var/lib/dpkg/info/mdatp.postinst"
    ) or
    (process.parent.name like "python*" and process.parent.command_line like "*mitogen*") or
    (process.parent.executable like "/usr/bin/python*" and process.args == "otelcol-sumo" and process.args == "show") or
    (
      (
        process.working_directory == "/var/ossec" or
        process.parent.executable in ("/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/preinst", "/var/lib/dpkg/info/wazuh-agent.prerm")
      ) and
      process.args == "wazuh-agent"
    ) and not process.args == "disable"
  )] as event0
  [process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
  (
    process.name in ("service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", "pgrep") or
    process.name == "systemctl" and process.args in ("is-enabled", "show", "is-active", "status", "list-units")
  ) and
  not startswith~(process.command_line, event0.process.command_line) and
  process.args in (
    "avast", "bdsec", "cylancesvc", "cyoptics", "cbsensor", "cpla", "itsm", "cloudmonitor", "falcon-sensor", "cybereason-sensor",
    "elastic-agent", "sraagent", "eraagent", "eea", "eea-user-agent", "xagt", "keeperx", "kesl", "klnagent64", "kesl-supervisor",
    "kics", "kess", "rocketcyber", "limacharlie", "lr-agent.logrhythm", "MFEcma", "mdatp", "osqueryd", "traps_pmd", "ir_agent",
    "armor", "sophoslinuxsensor", "sophos-spl", "otelcol-sumo", "ds_agent", "titanagent", "taniumclient", "oneavd", "mbdaemon",
    "wazuh-agent", "emit_scand_service", "f-secure-linuxsecurity-activate"
  )] as event1
  [process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
  (
    process.name in ("service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", "pgrep") or
    process.name == "systemctl" and process.args in ("is-enabled", "show", "is-active", "status", "list-units")
  ) and
  not (startswith~(process.command_line, event0.process.command_line) or startswith~(process.command_line, event1.process.command_line)) and
  process.args in (
    "avast", "bdsec", "cylancesvc", "cyoptics", "cbsensor", "cpla", "itsm", "cloudmonitor", "falcon-sensor", "cybereason-sensor",
    "elastic-agent", "sraagent", "eraagent", "eea", "eea-user-agent", "xagt", "keeperx", "kesl", "klnagent64", "kesl-supervisor",
    "kics", "kess", "rocketcyber", "limacharlie", "lr-agent.logrhythm", "MFEcma", "mdatp", "osqueryd", "traps_pmd", "ir_agent",
    "armor", "sophoslinuxsensor", "sophos-spl", "otelcol-sumo", "ds_agent", "titanagent", "taniumclient", "oneavd", "mbdaemon",
    "wazuh-agent", "emit_scand_service", "f-secure-linuxsecurity-activate"
  )]
Raw source Security Tooling Enumeration · Elastic TOML
Esc
Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified. 
[rule]
description = """
Detects a sequence where the same parent process executes several distinct "systemctl", "service", "chkconfig", "grep",
"egrep", or "pgrep" commands to check for known security tooling within 3 seconds. Repeated identical command lines are
de-duplicated, helping identify rapid multi-command security software discovery rather than a single enumeration
attempt.
"""
id = "9de52bd9-0537-4b2c-a3ba-34c3c3ffd855"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Security Tooling Enumeration"
os_list = ["linux"]
version = "1.0.5"

query = '''
sequence by process.parent.entity_id with maxspan=3s
  [process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.parent.executable != null and
  (
    process.name in ("service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", "pgrep") or
    process.name == "systemctl" and process.args in ("is-enabled", "show", "is-active", "status", "list-units")
  ) and
  process.args in (
    "avast", "bdsec", "cylancesvc", "cyoptics", "cbsensor", "cpla", "itsm", "cloudmonitor", "falcon-sensor", "cybereason-sensor",
    "elastic-agent", "sraagent", "eraagent", "eea", "eea-user-agent", "xagt", "keeperx", "kesl", "klnagent64", "kesl-supervisor",
    "kics", "kess", "rocketcyber", "limacharlie", "lr-agent.logrhythm", "MFEcma", "mdatp", "osqueryd", "traps_pmd", "ir_agent",
    "armor", "sophoslinuxsensor", "sophos-spl", "otelcol-sumo", "ds_agent", "titanagent", "taniumclient", "oneavd", "mbdaemon",
    "wazuh-agent", "emit_scand_service", "f-secure-linuxsecurity-activate"
  ) and not (
    process.parent.executable in (
      "/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/ruby", "/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/puppet", "/opt/sophos-spl/base/bin/SulDownloader",
      "/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dctaskengine", "/usr/bin/newrelic-infra", "/usr/bin/puppet",
      "/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_agents", "/opt/chef/bin/chef-client", "/opt/chef/embedded/bin/ruby",
      "/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dcinventory", "/opt/scripts/puppet/puppetrun", "/usr/bin/chef-client"
    ) or
    process.parent.executable like (
      "/opt/sophos-spl/base/bin/SulDownloader.*", "/opt/rapid7/ir_agent/components/bootstrap/*/bootstrap_upgrader",
      "/usr/local/rapid7/ir_agent/components/bootstrap/*/bootstrap_upgrader", "/tmp/newroot/opt/chef/bin/chef-client",
      "/usr/lib/venv-salt-minion/bin/python.original", "/etc/checkpoint/common/install_offline.sh",
      "/tmp/newroot/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dctaskengine",
      "/proc/self/fd/*/usr/local/manageengine/uems_agent/bin/dctaskengine",
      "/host/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/ruby"
    ) or 
    process.parent.args like (
      "/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_agents", "/usr/bin/puppet", "/home/*/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-*/AnsiballZ_*.py",
      "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-*/AnsiballZ_*.py", "/var/tmp/rpm-tmp*", "/var/lib/dpkg/info/cybereason-sensor.prerm",
      "/var/lib/dpkg/info/mdatp.postinst"
    ) or
    (process.parent.name like "python*" and process.parent.command_line like "*mitogen*") or
    (process.parent.executable like "/usr/bin/python*" and process.args == "otelcol-sumo" and process.args == "show") or
    (
      (
        process.working_directory == "/var/ossec" or
        process.parent.executable in ("/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/preinst", "/var/lib/dpkg/info/wazuh-agent.prerm")
      ) and
      process.args == "wazuh-agent"
    ) and not process.args == "disable"
  )] as event0
  [process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
  (
    process.name in ("service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", "pgrep") or
    process.name == "systemctl" and process.args in ("is-enabled", "show", "is-active", "status", "list-units")
  ) and
  not startswith~(process.command_line, event0.process.command_line) and
  process.args in (
    "avast", "bdsec", "cylancesvc", "cyoptics", "cbsensor", "cpla", "itsm", "cloudmonitor", "falcon-sensor", "cybereason-sensor",
    "elastic-agent", "sraagent", "eraagent", "eea", "eea-user-agent", "xagt", "keeperx", "kesl", "klnagent64", "kesl-supervisor",
    "kics", "kess", "rocketcyber", "limacharlie", "lr-agent.logrhythm", "MFEcma", "mdatp", "osqueryd", "traps_pmd", "ir_agent",
    "armor", "sophoslinuxsensor", "sophos-spl", "otelcol-sumo", "ds_agent", "titanagent", "taniumclient", "oneavd", "mbdaemon",
    "wazuh-agent", "emit_scand_service", "f-secure-linuxsecurity-activate"
  )] as event1
  [process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
  (
    process.name in ("service", "chkconfig", "grep", "egrep", "pgrep") or
    process.name == "systemctl" and process.args in ("is-enabled", "show", "is-active", "status", "list-units")
  ) and
  not (startswith~(process.command_line, event0.process.command_line) or startswith~(process.command_line, event1.process.command_line)) and
  process.args in (
    "avast", "bdsec", "cylancesvc", "cyoptics", "cbsensor", "cpla", "itsm", "cloudmonitor", "falcon-sensor", "cybereason-sensor",
    "elastic-agent", "sraagent", "eraagent", "eea", "eea-user-agent", "xagt", "keeperx", "kesl", "klnagent64", "kesl-supervisor",
    "kics", "kess", "rocketcyber", "limacharlie", "lr-agent.logrhythm", "MFEcma", "mdatp", "osqueryd", "traps_pmd", "ir_agent",
    "armor", "sophoslinuxsensor", "sophos-spl", "otelcol-sumo", "ds_agent", "titanagent", "taniumclient", "oneavd", "mbdaemon",
    "wazuh-agent", "emit_scand_service", "f-secure-linuxsecurity-activate"
  )]
'''

min_endpoint_version = "8.4.0"
optional_actions = []
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0

[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 1

[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 2

[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.parent.entity_id"
state = 0

[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.parent.entity_id"
state = 1

[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.parent.entity_id"
state = 2

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1518"
name = "Software Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1518/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1518.001"
name = "Security Software Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1518/001/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0007"
name = "Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "8.4.0"

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