Suspicious Bash Decode Chain Using curl xxd and base64 Piped to eval via Linux Shell

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.004Unix Shell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a Linux shell one-liner that pipes curl output through xxd and base64 into eval to decode and execute an in-memory payload. This behavior is used by TransparentTribe to deploy the DeskRAT implant against Indian military targets. Chaining hex and base64 decoding into eval lets the attacker run downloaded code without touching disk which frustrates static detection.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.004 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Base64 Decoded Payload Piped to Shell on Linux

Suspicious Base64 Decoding Piped to Shell on macOS

Suspicious Hex Decoding Piped to Shell via xxd on macOS

Malicious Shell Payload Piped from curl to zsh

Obfuscated Base64-Decoded Payload Piped to a Shell (via process_creation)

Obfuscated Base64-Decoded Payload Piped to Shell via macOS ClickFix Terminal Lure (via process_creation)

Suspicious awk Character Generation Piped to Shell on VMware ESXi (via process_creation)

Malicious Download Piped to Shell via curl or wget (via process_creation)

Suspicious GobRAT Bulbature Infection Shell Scripts Execution

Suspicious Bash Decode Chain Using curl xxd and base64 Piped to eval via Linux Shell

Pivot detection · T1059.004 · 9 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 →