Linux Crypto Mining Indicators

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product linux, category process_creation
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects command line parameters or strings often used by crypto miners

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Impact	`T1496` Resource Hijacking

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Sysmon-for-Linux	Event ID 1

Rule body yaml

title: Linux Crypto Mining Indicators
id: 9069ea3c-b213-4c52-be13-86506a227ab1
status: test
description: Detects command line parameters or strings often used by crypto miners
references:
    - https://www.poolwatch.io/coin/monero
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2021-10-26
modified: 2022-12-25
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1496
logsource:
    product: linux
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' --cpu-priority='
            - '--donate-level=0'
            - ' -o pool.'
            - ' --nicehash'
            - ' --algo=rx/0 '
            - 'stratum+tcp://'
            - 'stratum+udp://'
            # Sub process started by xmrig - the most popular Monero crypto miner - unknown if this causes any false positives
            - 'sh -c /sbin/modprobe msr allow_writes=on'
            # base64 encoded: --donate-level=
            - 'LS1kb25hdGUtbGV2ZWw9'
            - '0tZG9uYXRlLWxldmVsP'
            - 'tLWRvbmF0ZS1sZXZlbD'
            # base64 encoded: stratum+tcp:// and stratum+udp://
            - 'c3RyYXR1bSt0Y3A6Ly'
            - 'N0cmF0dW0rdGNwOi8v'
            - 'zdHJhdHVtK3RjcDovL'
            - 'c3RyYXR1bSt1ZHA6Ly'
            - 'N0cmF0dW0rdWRwOi8v'
            - 'zdHJhdHVtK3VkcDovL'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of crypto miners
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' --cpu-priority='
        - '--donate-level=0'
        - ' -o pool.'
        - ' --nicehash'
        - ' --algo=rx/0 '
        - 'stratum+tcp://'
        - 'stratum+udp://'
        - 'sh -c /sbin/modprobe msr allow_writes=on'
        - 'LS1kb25hdGUtbGV2ZWw9'
        - '0tZG9uYXRlLWxldmVsP'
        - 'tLWRvbmF0ZS1sZXZlbD'
        - 'c3RyYXR1bSt0Y3A6Ly'
        - 'N0cmF0dW0rdGNwOi8v'
        - 'zdHJhdHVtK3RjcDovL'
        - 'c3RyYXR1bSt1ZHA6Ly'
        - 'N0cmF0dW0rdWRwOi8v'
        - 'zdHJhdHVtK3VkcDovL'

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
`CommandLine`	match	`--algo=rx/0` `--cpu-priority=` `--nicehash` `-o pool.` `--donate-level=0` `0tZG9uYXRlLWxldmVsP` `LS1kb25hdGUtbGV2ZWw9` `N0cmF0dW0rdGNwOi8v` `N0cmF0dW0rdWRwOi8v` `c3RyYXR1bSt0Y3A6Ly` `c3RyYXR1bSt1ZHA6Ly` `sh -c /sbin/modprobe msr allow_writes=on` `stratum+tcp://` `stratum+udp://` `tLWRvbmF0ZS1sZXZlbD` `zdHJhdHVtK3RjcDovL` `zdHJhdHVtK3VkcDovL`

`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 Crypto Mining Indicators

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Linux Crypto Mining Indicators

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`