Persistence via KDE AutoStart Script or Desktop File Modification

Identifies the creation or modification of a K Desktop Environment (KDE) AutoStart script or desktop file that will execute upon each user logon. Adversaries may abuse this method for persistence.

Rule type: eql

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:

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Linux
Threat Detection
Persistence

Version: 5

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

edit

## Setup

If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2, events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until 8.2, so you will need to add a custom pipeline to populate `event.ingested` to @timestamp for this rule to work.

Rule query

edit

file where event.type != "deletion" and
  file.extension in ("sh", "desktop") and
  file.path :
    (
      "/home/*/.config/autostart/*", "/root/.config/autostart/*",
      "/home/*/.kde/Autostart/*", "/root/.kde/Autostart/*",
      "/home/*/.kde4/Autostart/*", "/root/.kde4/Autostart/*",
      "/home/*/.kde/share/autostart/*", "/root/.kde/share/autostart/*",
      "/home/*/.kde4/share/autostart/*", "/root/.kde4/share/autostart/*",
      "/home/*/.local/share/autostart/*", "/root/.local/share/autostart/*",
      "/home/*/.config/autostart-scripts/*", "/root/.config/autostart-scripts/*",
      "/etc/xdg/autostart/*", "/usr/share/autostart/*"
    ) and
    not process.name in ("yum", "dpkg", "install", "dnf", "teams", "yum-cron", "dnf-automatic")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Boot or Logon Autostart Execution
- ID: T1547
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/

« Kernel module load via insmod Access of Stored Browser Credentials »