Attempt to Install Root Certificate

Adversaries may install a root certificate on a compromised system to avoid warnings when connecting to their command and control servers. Root certificates are used in public key cryptography to identify a root certificate authority (CA). When a root certificate is installed, the system or application will trust certificates in the root’s chain of trust that have been signed by the root certificate.

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:

https://ss64.com/osx/security-cert.html

Tags:

Elastic
Host
macOS
Threat Detection
Defense Evasion

Version: 1

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.12.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Potential false positives

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Certain applications may install root certificates for the purpose of inspecting SSL traffic.

Rule query

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event.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and
process.name:security and process.args:"add-trusted-cert"

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Subvert Trust Controls
- ID: T1553
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1553/

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