Suspicious SSH authorized_keys Modification for Persistence

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1098.004SSH Authorized Keys
Priv Esc
- T1098.004SSH Authorized Keys
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects append or redirect operations against an SSH authorized_keys file, an account persistence technique highlighted in Elastic Linux persistence research where an attacker adds their own key to a system user home directory. Planting a controlled public key grants durable password-less remote access that survives credential changes. Writes to authorized_keys through shell redirection outside provisioning workflows should be reviewed.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1098.004 — drag to rearrange

Malicious SSH Authorized Keys Injection for Persistence

Suspicious Immutable Attribute Set on SSH Authorized Keys (via process_creation)

Suspicious SSH Daemon Configuration Change Enabling Root Login

Suspicious SSH Authorized Keys Modification via Scripting Interpreter on Linux via Process Creation (via process_creation)

Malicious SSH authorized_keys Overwrite With Outlaw Marker

Malicious SSH authorized_keys Modification for Persistence on Appliance

Malicious vmanage-admin Public Key Authentication in SSH Auth Log

Malicious Immutable Attribute Set on SSH Authorized Keys via chattr on Linux

Suspicious SSH authorized_keys Persistence Modification (via process_creation)

Suspicious SSH authorized_keys Modification for Persistence

Pivot detection · T1098.004 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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