Linux System Information Discovery

Status: production
Kind: building block (feeds higher-level correlation rules; not a standalone alert)
Severity: low
Time window: 119m
Group by: host.id, process.command_line, process.parent.executable
Author: Elastic
Source: github.com/elastic/detection-rules

This rule identifies Linux system information discovery activity via built-in commands that read common system files. Adversaries may use these commands to gather information about the operating system, installed services, and hardware configuration to aid in further exploration and exploitation of the system.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Discovery	`T1082` System Information Discovery

Rule body elastic

[metadata]
creation_date = "2023/07/10"
integration = ["endpoint", "sentinel_one_cloud_funnel"]
maturity = "production"
updated_date = "2026/03/02"

[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
building_block_type = "default"
description = """
This rule identifies Linux system information discovery activity via built-in commands that read common
system files. Adversaries may use these commands to gather information about the operating system, installed
services, and hardware configuration to aid in further exploration and exploitation of the system.
"""
from = "now-119m"
index = ["logs-endpoint.events.*", "endgame-*", "logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*",]
interval = "60m"
language = "kuery"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Linux System Information Discovery"
risk_score = 21
rule_id = "b81bd314-db5b-4d97-82e8-88e3e5fc9de5"
severity = "low"
tags = [
  "Domain: Endpoint",
  "OS: Linux",
  "Use Case: Threat Detection",
  "Tactic: Discovery",
  "Rule Type: BBR",
  "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
  "Data Source: Elastic Endgame",
  "Data Source: SentinelOne",

]
timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
type = "new_terms"
query = '''
event.category:process and host.os.type:linux and event.type:start and event.action:(exec or exec_event or start) and
process.name:("cat" or "more" or "less" or "nano" or "vi" or "vim" or "vim.basic" or "emacs") and
process.args:(
  "/etc/issue" or "/etc/os-release" or "/proc/version" or "/etc/profile" or "/proc/cpuinfo" or "/etc/services" or
  "/etc/lsb-release" or "/etc/redhat-release" or "/etc/debian_version" or "/etc/hostname"
) and
not process.parent.executable:("/usr/local/jamf/bin/jamf" or "/etc/cp/watchdog/cp-nano-watchdog")
'''

[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"

[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1082"
name = "System Information Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1082/"

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

[rule.new_terms]
field = "new_terms_fields"
value = ["process.parent.executable", "process.command_line", "host.id"]

[[rule.new_terms.history_window_start]]
field = "history_window_start"
value = "now-5d"

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `new_terms`

event.category:process and host.os.type:linux and event.type:start and event.action:(exec or exec_event or start) and
process.name:("cat" or "more" or "less" or "nano" or "vi" or "vim" or "vim.basic" or "emacs") and
process.args:(
  "/etc/issue" or "/etc/os-release" or "/proc/version" or "/etc/profile" or "/proc/cpuinfo" or "/etc/services" or
  "/etc/lsb-release" or "/etc/redhat-release" or "/etc/debian_version" or "/etc/hostname"
) and
not process.parent.executable:("/usr/local/jamf/bin/jamf" or "/etc/cp/watchdog/cp-nano-watchdog")

New terms: process.parent.executable, process.command_line, host.id
History since: now-5d

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`process.parent.executable`	in	`/etc/cp/watchdog/cp-nano-watchdog`, `/usr/local/jamf/bin/jamf`

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`event.action`	in	`exec` `exec_event` `start`
`event.category`	eq	`process`
`event.type`	eq	`start`
`process.args`	in	`/etc/debian_version` `/etc/hostname` `/etc/issue` `/etc/lsb-release` `/etc/os-release` `/etc/profile` `/etc/redhat-release` `/etc/services` `/proc/cpuinfo` `/proc/version`
`process.name`	in	`cat` `emacs` `less` `more` `nano` `vi` `vim` `vim.basic`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Linux System Information Discovery

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body elastic

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `new_terms`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Linux System Information Discovery

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body elastic

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: new_terms

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 1: `new_terms`