IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Potential Pspy Process Monitoring Detected

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Potential Pspy Process Monitoring Detected

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This rule leverages auditd to monitor for processes scanning different processes within the /proc directory using the openat syscall. This is a strong indication for the usage of the pspy utility. Attackers may leverage the pspy process monitoring utility to monitor system processes without requiring root permissions, in order to find potential privilege escalation vectors.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-auditd_manager.auditd-*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://github.com/DominicBreuker/pspy

Tags:

Domain: Endpoint
OS: Linux
Use Case: Threat Detection
Tactic: Discovery

Version: 1

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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## Setup
This rule requires the use of the `auditd_manager` integration. `Auditd_manager` is a tool designed to simplify and enhance the management of the audit subsystem in Linux systems. It provides a user-friendly interface and automation capabilities for configuring and monitoring system auditing through the auditd daemon. With `auditd_manager`, administrators can easily define audit rules, track system events, and generate comprehensive audit reports, improving overall security and compliance in the system. The following steps should be executed in order to install and deploy `auditd_manager` on a Linux system.

```
Kibana -->
Management -->
Integrations -->
Auditd Manager -->
Add Auditd Manager
```

`Auditd_manager` subscribes to the kernel and receives events as they occur without any additional configuration. However, if more advanced configuration is required to detect specific behavior, audit rules can be added to the integration in either the "audit rules" configuration box or the "auditd rule files" box by specifying a file to read the audit rules from.

For this detection rule to trigger, the following additional audit rules are required to be added to the integration:
```
-w /proc/ -p r -k audit_proc
```

Add the newly installed `auditd manager` to an agent policy, and deploy the agent on a Linux system from which auditd log files are desirable.

Rule query

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sequence by process.pid, host.id with maxspan=5s
[ file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.dataset == "auditd_manager.auditd" and
  auditd.data.syscall == "openat" and file.path == "/proc" and auditd.data.a0 : ("ffffffffffffff9c", "ffffff9c") and
  auditd.data.a2 : ("80000", "88000") ] with runs=10

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Discovery
- ID: TA0007
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/
Technique:
- Name: Process Discovery
- ID: T1057
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1057/
Technique:
- Name: System Information Discovery
- ID: T1082
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1082/

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