Detection rules › Sigma
Mask System Power Settings Via Systemctl
Detects the use of systemctl mask to disable system power management targets such as suspend, hibernate, or hybrid sleep. Adversaries may mask these targets to prevent a system from entering sleep or shutdown states, ensuring their malicious processes remain active and uninterrupted. This behavior can be associated with persistence or defense evasion, as it impairs normal system power operations to maintain long-term access or avoid termination of malicious activity.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | T1653 Power Settings |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event |
|---|---|
| Sysmon-for-Linux | Event ID 1 |
Rule body yaml
title: Mask System Power Settings Via Systemctl
id: c172b7b5-f3a1-4af2-90b7-822c63df86cb
status: experimental
description: |
Detects the use of systemctl mask to disable system power management targets such as suspend, hibernate, or hybrid sleep.
Adversaries may mask these targets to prevent a system from entering sleep or shutdown states, ensuring their malicious processes remain active and uninterrupted.
This behavior can be associated with persistence or defense evasion, as it impairs normal system power operations to maintain long-term access or avoid termination of malicious activity.
author: Milad Cheraghi, Nasreddine Bencherchali
date: 2025-10-17
references:
- https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/systemctl.1.html
- https://linux-audit.com/systemd/faq/what-is-the-difference-between-systemctl-disable-and-systemctl-mask/
tags:
- attack.persistence
- attack.impact
- attack.t1653
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: linux
detection:
selection_systemctl:
Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
CommandLine|contains: ' mask'
selection_power_options:
CommandLine|contains:
- 'suspend.target'
- 'hibernate.target'
- 'hybrid-sleep.target'
condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
- Unlikely
level: high
Stages and Predicates
Stage 0: condition
all of selection_*Stage 1: selection_systemctl
selection_systemctl:
Image|endswith: '/systemctl'
CommandLine|contains: ' mask'
Stage 2: selection_power_options
selection_power_options:
CommandLine|contains:
- 'suspend.target'
- 'hibernate.target'
- 'hybrid-sleep.target'
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 |
|
Image | ends_with |
|