Malicious Shared Library Preload Persistence via ld.so.preload (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1574.006Dynamic Linker Hijacking
Persistence
- T1574.006Dynamic Linker Hijacking
Priv Esc
- T1574.006Dynamic Linker Hijacking
Defense Evasion
- T1574.006Dynamic Linker Hijacking
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects modification of /etc/ld.so.preload, which forces a shared library to load into every dynamically linked process, a stealthy persistence and privilege-escalation technique used by Linux rootkits. Ld.so.preload hijacking is tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting the change surfaces a system-wide library hijack.

Reporting behind it

Related detections8 linkedT1574.006 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Koske Userland Rootkit Installation via ld.so.preload (via file_event)

Malicious TeamTNT prochider Rootkit Deployment as Shared Object (via file_event)

Malicious perfctl Rootkit Library Drop via ld.so.preload (via file_event)

Malicious Userland Rootkit Persistence via ld.so.preload on Linux

Suspicious Bootkitty Rootkit Component Drop under opt via File System

Malicious LD_PRELOAD Rootkit Persistence via ld.so.preload

Linux Code Injection via ld.so Preload File (/etc/ld.so.preload)

Linux: Detect Modification of /etc/ld.so.preload for Shared Object Injection

Malicious Shared Library Preload Persistence via ld.so.preload (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1574.006 · 8 related

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

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →