Suspicious User Has Been Deleted Through Userdel (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious User Has Been Deleted Through Userdel (via process_creation)
id: 98c258ee-4f6e-51ba-8250-dffe63c7aac3
status: stable
description: This rule detects execution of the "userdel" binary. Which is leveraged to delete a user account and related files. This is sometimes misused by threat actors to cover their tracks
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1531/
    - https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-delete-group-in-linux/
    - https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-remove-user-command/
    - https://www.cybrary.it/blog/0p3n/linux-commands-used-attackers/
    - https://linux.die.net/man/8/userdel
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-04-26
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1531
logsource:
    product: linux
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/userdel'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium