Suspicious File Immutability Manipulation via chattr

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1222.002Linux and Mac Permissions
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects use of chattr to set or clear the immutable attribute on files, an anti-removal technique used by Kinsing and similar Log4Shell payloads to protect malicious binaries and persistence entries from deletion. Setting the immutable bit prevents defenders and cleanup tooling from removing the implanted files.

Reporting behind it

Related detections7 linkedT1222.002 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Making a File Executable in a Temp Directory (via process_creation)

Suspicious Download to tmp Followed by chmod Execution on Linux

Malicious Immutable Flag on SSH authorized_keys via chattr

Linux: chattr Used to Remove Immutable File Attribute

Linux chmod Process Commandlines Targeting Sensitive Directory Paths

Linux auditd: chmod/chown process execution indicating file or folder permission changes

Linux auditd: Detect chattr -i removing immutable file attribute

Suspicious File Immutability Manipulation via chattr

Pivot detection · T1222.002 · 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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