Malicious Systemd Service Persistence via ExecStartPost Hidden Path on Linux

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
linux
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-15
Updated
2026-09-15

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Defense Evasion

  6. Cred Access

  7. Discovery

  8. Lateral Movement

  9. Collection

  10. C2

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects modification of a systemd unit that adds an ExecStartPost directive pointing to a payload under /var/tmp which the chkstart tool from the exposed Docker API campaign uses to inject a malicious loader into legitimate services for persistence.

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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.