Malicious Privileged Shell via env setuid Abuse on Linux

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1548.001Setuid and Setgid
Defense Evasion
- T1548.001Setuid and Setgid
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a shell being launched through the env binary with the privileged flag which is the root escalation primitive used in the Ivanti EPMM exploitation described by WithSecure where the setuid bit was set on env to spawn a root shell. The privileged shell flag preserves the elevated setuid context so this pattern is a strong privilege escalation and post exploitation indicator.

Reporting behind it

Related detections7 linkedT1548.001 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Privileged Shell via env setuid Abuse on Linux

Pivot detection · T1548.001 · 7 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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