Detection rules › Splunk
Detect Baron Samedit CVE-2021-3156
The following analytic detects attempts to exploit the Baron Samedit vulnerability (CVE-2021-3156) by identifying the use of the "sudoedit -s \" command. This detection leverages logs from Linux systems, specifically searching for instances of the sudoedit command with the "-s" flag followed by a double quote. This activity is significant because it indicates an attempt to exploit a known vulnerability that allows attackers to gain root privileges. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to complete system compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive data, and potential data breaches.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Privilege Escalation | T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation |
Rule body splunk
name: Detect Baron Samedit CVE-2021-3156
id: 93fbec4e-0375-440c-8db3-4508eca470c4
version: 9
creation_date: '2021-01-28'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Shannon Davis, Splunk
status: experimental
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects attempts to exploit the Baron Samedit vulnerability (CVE-2021-3156) by identifying the use of the "sudoedit -s \\" command. This detection leverages logs from Linux systems, specifically searching for instances of the sudoedit command with the "-s" flag followed by a double quote. This activity is significant because it indicates an attempt to exploit a known vulnerability that allows attackers to gain root privileges. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to complete system compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive data, and potential data breaches.
data_source: []
search: '`linux_hosts` "sudoedit -s \\" | `detect_baron_samedit_cve_2021_3156_filter`'
how_to_implement: Splunk Universal Forwarder running on Linux systems, capturing logs from the /var/log directory. The vulnerability is exposed when a non privledged user tries passing in a single \ character at the end of the command while using the shell and edit flags.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references: []
finding:
title: Potential Baron Samedit behavior on $dest$
entity:
field: dest
type: system
score: 50
analytic_story:
- Baron Samedit CVE-2021-3156
asset_type: Endpoint
cve:
- CVE-2021-3156
mitre_attack_id:
- T1068
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`linux_hosts` "sudoedit -s \\"
Stage 2: search
| `detect_baron_samedit_cve_2021_3156_filter`
Search terms
Bare-string tokens in the SPL search body. Splunk matches each token against _raw (the untyped raw event text) anywhere it appears, not against a specific field. These don't surface in the Indicators table because they aren't predicates on a known field.
| Stage | Term |
|---|---|
| 1 | "sudoedit -s \\" |