Disable Or Stop Services

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

Detects the usage of utilities such as 'systemctl', 'service'...etc to stop or disable tools and services on Linux systems. Attackers may stop or disable security tools and services to evade detection, maintain persistence, or disrupt system operations.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Defense Impairment	`T1685` Disable or Modify Tools
Impact	`T1489` Service Stop

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Sysmon-for-Linux	Event ID 1

Rule body yaml

title: Disable Or Stop Services
id: de25eeb8-3655-4643-ac3a-b662d3f26b6b
status: test
description: |
    Detects the usage of utilities such as 'systemctl', 'service'...etc to stop or disable tools and services on Linux systems.
    Attackers may stop or disable security tools and services to evade detection, maintain persistence, or disrupt system operations.
references:
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/pl_pl/research/20/i/the-evolution-of-malicious-shell-scripts.html
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-09-15
modified: 2025-03-18
tags:
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1685
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1489
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: linux
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '/service'
            - '/systemctl'
            - '/chkconfig'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' stop '
            - ' disable '
    filter_main_legit_snapd:
        Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '--no-reload disable snap-snapd-'
            - ' stop snap-snapd-'
    filter_main_ssh_preinstall:
        Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
        ParentCommandLine|contains: 'tmp.ci/preinst upgrade'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ' stop '
            - 'ssh.'
    filter_main_ubuntu_upgrade:
        ParentCommandLine|contains: '/dpkg/info/ubuntu-pro-client.prerm upgrade'
        Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
    filter_optional_aws_agent:
        Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
        CommandLine|endswith: 'snap.amazon-ssm-agent.amazon-ssm-agent.service'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administration activities
    - Some false positives are to be expected. Apply additional filters as needed before pushing to production.
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    Image|endswith:
        - '/service'
        - '/systemctl'
        - '/chkconfig'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' stop '
        - ' disable '

Stage 2: `not filter_main_*`

filter_main_legit_snapd:
    Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--no-reload disable snap-snapd-'
        - ' stop snap-snapd-'
filter_main_ssh_preinstall:
    Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
    ParentCommandLine|contains: 'tmp.ci/preinst upgrade'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ' stop '
        - 'ssh.'
filter_main_ubuntu_upgrade:
    ParentCommandLine|contains: '/dpkg/info/ubuntu-pro-client.prerm upgrade'
    Image|endswith: '/systemctl'

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_aws_agent`

filter_optional_aws_agent:
    Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
    CommandLine|endswith: 'snap.amazon-ssm-agent.amazon-ssm-agent.service'

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`CommandLine`	match	`stop snap-snapd-`
`CommandLine`	match	`--no-reload disable snap-snapd-`
`Image`	ends_with	`/systemctl`
`CommandLine`	match	`stop`
`CommandLine`	match	`ssh.`
`Image`	ends_with	`/systemctl`
`ParentCommandLine`	match	`tmp.ci/preinst upgrade`
`Image`	ends_with	`/systemctl`
`ParentCommandLine`	match	`/dpkg/info/ubuntu-pro-client.prerm upgrade`
`CommandLine`	ends_with	`snap.amazon-ssm-agent.amazon-ssm-agent.service`
`Image`	ends_with	`/systemctl`

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	`disable` `stop`
`Image`	ends_with	`/chkconfig` `/service` `/systemctl`

`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)

Disable Or Stop Services

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `not filter_main_*`

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_aws_agent`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Disable Or Stop Services

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Stage 2: not filter_main_*

Stage 3: not filter_optional_aws_agent

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `not filter_main_*`

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_aws_agent`