Suspicious Hosts File Modification Pointing to Mining Pool via Command Line (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Impact

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
- T1496Resource Hijacking

What it detects

This rule detects in-place edits of /etc/hosts via sed that reference the nanopool mining pool, a technique the MSR cryptominer uses to redirect or pin mining traffic. It is associated with cryptominer ELFs abusing MSR reported by Uptycs. Tampering with hosts entries for a known mining pool signals cryptojacking configuration and helps distinguish malicious edits from routine administration.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1496 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious XMRig Cryptominer Execution with Pool URL by StaryDobry

Suspicious Hosts File Modification Pointing to Mining Pool via Command Line (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1496 · 9 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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