Attempt to Install Root Certificate

Adversaries may install a root certificate on a compromised system to avoid warnings when connecting to their command and control servers. Root certificates are used in public key cryptography to identify a root certificate authority (CA). When a root certificate is installed, the system or application will trust certificates in the root’s chain of trust that have been signed by the root certificate.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

auditbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://ss64.com/osx/security-cert.html

Tags:

Elastic
Host
macOS
Threat Detection
Defense Evasion

Version: 4

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

event.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and
  process.name:security and process.args:"add-trusted-cert" and
  not process.parent.executable:("/Library/Bitdefender/AVP/product/bin/BDCoreIssues" or "/Applications/Bitdefender/SecurityNetworkInstallerApp.app/Contents/MacOS/SecurityNetworkInstallerApp"
)

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Subvert Trust Controls
- ID: T1553
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1553/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Install Root Certificate
- ID: T1553.004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1553/004/

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