Malicious Keyhunter Worker Systemd Unit File Creation

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1543.002Systemd Service
Priv Esc
- T1543.002Systemd Service
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of the keyhunter-worker systemd unit file dropped by the NATS-as-C2 credential harvesting campaign. The unit establishes persistence for a worker that connects to an attacker NATS broker and exfiltrates cloud and AI API keys. A unit file with this name is a strong indicator of compromise.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1543.002 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Keyhunter Worker Systemd Unit File Creation

Pivot detection · T1543.002 · 9 related

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

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