Shell Invocation via Apt - Linux

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: category process_creation, product linux
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the use of the "apt" and "apt-get" commands to execute a shell or proxy commands. Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Discovery	`T1083` File and Directory Discovery

Telemetry coverage

Platform	Record / event type
Linux	Event ID 1: Process Create

Rule body

title: Shell Invocation via Apt - Linux
id: bb382fd5-b454-47ea-a264-1828e4c766d6
status: test
description: |
    Detects the use of the "apt" and "apt-get" commands to execute a shell or proxy commands.
    Such behavior may be associated with privilege escalation, unauthorized command execution, or to break out from restricted environments.
references:
    - https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/apt/
    - https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/apt-get/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-12-28
modified: 2024-09-02
tags:
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.t1083
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: linux
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '/apt'
            - '/apt-get'
        CommandLine|contains: 'APT::Update::Pre-Invoke::='
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    Image|endswith:
        - '/apt'
        - '/apt-get'
    CommandLine|contains: 'APT::Update::Pre-Invoke::='

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`CommandLine`	match	`APT::Update::Pre-Invoke::=`	`field:"CommandLine" kind:match value:"APT::Update::Pre-Invoke::="`
`Image`	ends_with	`/apt` `/apt-get`	`field:"Image" kind:ends_with`