File and Directory Discovery T1083
Tactic: Discovery
Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system. Adversaries may use the information from File and Directory Discovery during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether or not the adversary fully infects the target and/or attempts specific actions.
Events covered
8 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
| ESF | exec | Process Execution (Notify) |
| ESF | open | File Open (NOTIFY) |
| Linux-Auditd | Event ID 1309 | EXECVE |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4103 | Payload Context: ContextInfo User Data: UserData. |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104 | Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
| Sysmon-for-Linux | Event ID 1 | Process Create |
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 67 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.
Fields filtered most (56 distinct)
The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.
Top indicator values (731 distinct)
Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.
Exclusions (171 distinct)
Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.
Rules under this technique
Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.
Sigma 24 rules
- Capabilities Discovery - Linux
- Cisco Discovery
- DirLister Execution
- File and Directory Discovery - Linux
- File and Directory Discovery - MacOS
- HackTool - PCHunter Execution
- Linux Capabilities Discovery
- Notepad Password Files Discovery
- Potential Discovery Activity Using Find - Linux
- Potential Discovery Activity Using Find - MacOS
- Powershell Directory Enumeration
- Powershell Sensitive File Discovery
- PUA - Seatbelt Execution
- PUA - TruffleHog Execution
- PUA - TruffleHog Execution - Linux
- Shell Execution GCC - Linux
- Shell Execution via Find - Linux
- Shell Execution via Flock - Linux
- Shell Execution via Nice - Linux
- Shell Invocation via Apt - Linux
- Source Code Enumeration Detection by Keyword
- Turla Group Lateral Movement
- Vim GTFOBin Abuse - Linux
- WannaCry Ransomware Activity
Elastic 25 rules
- AWS Credentials Searched For Inside A Container
- Cloud Credential Search Detected via Defend for Containers
- Deprecated - PowerShell Script with Discovery Capabilities
- ESXI Discovery via Find
- ESXI Discovery via Grep
- Full Disk Access Permission Check
- Kernel Instrumentation Discovery via kprobes and tracefs
- Kubeconfig File Discovery
- Kubelet Pod Discovery Detected via Defend for Containers
- Potential Credential Discovery via Recursive Grep
- Private Key Searching Activity
- Process Capability Enumeration
- Security File Access via Common Utilities
- Sensitive Keys Or Passwords Search Detected via Defend for Containers
- Sensitive Keys Or Passwords Searched For Inside A Container
- SUID/SGUID Enumeration Detected
- Suspicious Dynamic Linker Discovery via od
- Suspicious Memory grep Activity
- Suspicious Modprobe File Event
- Suspicious System Commands Executed by Previously Unknown Executable
- Suspicious which Enumeration
- System Information Discovery via Windows Command Shell
- Web Server Local File Inclusion Activity
- Web Server Potential Remote File Inclusion Activity
- Yum/DNF Plugin Status Discovery
Splunk 10 rules
- File and Directory Discovery Output to File - Windows (PowerShell)
- File and Directory Discovery Output to File - Windows (Sysmon)
- File and Directory Discovery Output to File - Windows (Windows Event Log)
- Linux Auditd Database File And Directory Discovery
- Linux Auditd File And Directory Discovery
- Linux Auditd Hidden Files And Directories Creation
- Linux Auditd Virtual Disk File And Directory Discovery
- Remote Share Directory Listing - Windows (PowerShell)
- Remote Share Directory Listing - Windows (Sysmon)
- Remote Share Directory Listing - Windows (Windows Event Log)
Kusto 7 rules
- API - Kiterunner detection
- AWSCloudTrail - ECR image scan findings high or critical
- Detect potential file enumeration activity (ASIM Web Session)
- Mimecast Secure Email Gateway - Spam Event Thread
- Mimecast Secure Email Gateway - Spam Event Thread
- Powershell Empire Cmdlets Executed in Command Line
- Votiro - File Blocked from Connector