Suspicious Systemd Service Unit Written to System Directory (via process_creation)

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
linux
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-19
Updated
2026-09-19

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Defense Evasion

  6. Cred Access

  7. Discovery

  8. Lateral Movement

  9. Collection

  10. C2

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects writing a systemd service unit into the system service directory from a shell, a Linux persistence technique. Observed in the Elastic Security Labs TeamPCP scenario where a service file is dropped into /etc/systemd/system to survive reboots and relaunch the miner or tunneling tooling.

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Suspicious Systemd Service Unit Written to System Directory (via process_creation)
Pivot detection · T1543.002 · 9 related

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