Suspicious Access of Sudoers File Content (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious Access of Sudoers File Content (via process_creation)
id: 7acecd38-ed2e-5e6d-85e9-2c9baef699e0
status: stable
description: This rule detects the execution of a text-based file access or inspection utilities to read the content of /etc/sudoers to potentially list all users that have sudo rights.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1592/004/
    - https://github.com/sleventyeleven/linuxprivchecker/
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-03-25
tags:
    - attack.reconnaissance
    - attack.t1592.004
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: linux
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '/cat'
            - '/ed'
            - '/egrep'
            - '/emacs'
            - '/fgrep'
            - '/grep'
            - '/head'
            - '/less'
            - '/more'
            - '/nano'
            - '/tail'
        CommandLine|contains: ' /etc/sudoers'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium