huntrule

Linux process discovery via common process listing and monitoring tools

Flags Linux execution of common tools used to enumerate running processes.

FreeReviewedSigma · Low · v5
Product
linux
Category
process_creation
Author
Ömer Günal, oscd.community, CheraaghiMilad (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-10-06
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule matches Linux process creation events where the command image ends with common process discovery utilities such as atop, htop, pgrep, ps, pstree, or top. Attackers may use these tools to enumerate running processes and identify installed applications or active services for further targeting. It relies on process creation telemetry containing the executable path or image name for Linux.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1057 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Container Environment Discovery via Proc Cgroup
Suspicious Doenerium Host Fingerprinting via cmd.exe
Malicious Turla Kopiluwak Reconnaissance Output to Windows Temp via process_creation
Suspicious Bazar Network Reconnaissance Command Batch
Suspicious Privilege Discovery Spawned by M365 Copilot Process
Suspicious Security Product Enumeration via tasklist
Suspicious node.exe Spawning tasklist Process Enumeration
Suspicious Virtual Machine Detection via WMI Win32_Process Query (via process_creation)
Antivirus Software Discovery via tasklist and findstr
Linux process discovery via common process listing and monitoring tools
Pivot detection · T1057 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
  1. v5
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v4
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  3. v3
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  4. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  5. v1
    No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.