Socat Process Activity
editSocat Process Activity
editA Socat process is running on a Linux host. Socat is often used as a persistence mechanism by exporting a reverse shell, or by serving a shell on a listening port. Socat is also sometimes used for lateral movement.
Rule type: query
Rule indices:
- auditbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
Severity: medium
Risk score: 47
Runs every: 5 minutes
Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Host
- Linux
- Threat Detection
Version: 7 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.12.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Potential false positives
editSocat is a dual-use tool that can be used for benign or malicious activity. Some normal use of this program, at varying levels of frequency, may originate from scripts, automation tools, and frameworks. Usage by web servers is more likely to be suspicious.
Rule query
editevent.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and process.name:socat and not process.args:-V
Rule version history
edit- Version 7 (7.12.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 6 (7.11.2 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 5 (7.10.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 4 (7.9.1 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.9.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process.name:socat and not process.args:-V and event.action:executed
-
- Version 2 (7.7.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process.name:socat and not process.args:"-V" and event.action:executed
-