Detection: Linux Auditd Hardware Addition Swapoff

Updated Date: 2024-09-30 ID: 5728bb16-1a0b-4b66-bce2-0074ac839770 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of the "swapoff" command, which disables the swapping of paging devices on a Linux system. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process execution logs. This activity is significant because disabling swap can be a tactic used by malware, such as Awfulshred, to evade detection and hinder forensic analysis. If confirmed malicious, this action could allow an attacker to manipulate system memory management, potentially leading to data corruption, system instability, or evasion of memory-based detection mechanisms.

1`linux_auditd` `linux_auditd_normalized_proctitle_process` 
2| rename host as dest 
3| where LIKE(process_exec, "%swapoff %") AND LIKE(process_exec, "% -a%") 
4| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by process_exec proctitle normalized_proctitle_delimiter dest 
5| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
6| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
7| `linux_auditd_hardware_addition_swapoff_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Linux Auditd Execve Linux icon Linux 'linux:audit' '/var/log/audit/audit.log'

Macros Used

Name Value
linux_auditd sourcetype="linux:audit"
linux_auditd_hardware_addition_swapoff_filter search *
linux_auditd_hardware_addition_swapoff_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1200 Hardware Additions Initial Access
KillChainPhase.DELIVERY
NistCategory.DE_AE
Cis18Value.CIS_10
DarkVishnya

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting Value
Disabled true
Cron Schedule 0 * * * *
Earliest Time -70m@m
Latest Time -10m@m
Schedule Window auto
Creates Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

To implement this detection, the process begins by ingesting auditd data, that consist SYSCALL, TYPE, EXECVE and PROCTITLE events, which captures command-line executions and process details on Unix/Linux systems. These logs should be ingested and processed using Splunk Add-on for Unix and Linux (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/833), which is essential for correctly parsing and categorizing the data. The next step involves normalizing the field names to match the field names set by the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to ensure consistency across different data sources and enhance the efficiency of data modeling. This approach enables effective monitoring and detection of linux endpoints where auditd is deployed

Known False Positives

administrator may disable swapping of devices in a linux host. Filter is needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
A [$process_exec$] event occurred on host - [$dest$] to disable the swapping of paging devices on a Linux system. 36 60 60
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation ✅ Passing N/A N/A N/A
Unit ✅ Passing Dataset /var/log/audit/audit.log linux:audit
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset /var/log/audit/audit.log linux:audit

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 2