Adversaries may disable or modify the Linux audit system to hide malicious activity and avoid detection. Linux admins use the Linux Audit system to track security-relevant information on a system. The Linux Audit system operates at the kernel-level and maintains event logs on application and system activity such as process, network, file, and login events based on pre-configured rules.
Often referred to as auditd
, this is the name of the daemon used to write events to disk and is governed by the parameters set in the audit.conf
configuration file. Two primary ways to configure the log generation rules are through the command line auditctl
utility and the file /etc/audit/audit.rules
, containing a sequence of auditctl
commands loaded at boot time.(Citation: Red Hat System Auditing)(Citation: IzyKnows auditd threat detection 2022)
With root privileges, adversaries may be able to ensure their activity is not logged through disabling the Audit system service, editing the configuration/rule files, or by hooking the Audit system library functions. Using the command line, adversaries can disable the Audit system service through killing processes associated with auditd
daemon or use systemctl
to stop the Audit service. Adversaries can also hook Audit system functions to disable logging or modify the rules contained in the /etc/audit/audit.rules
or audit.conf
files to ignore malicious activity.(Citation: Trustwave Honeypot SkidMap 2023)(Citation: ESET Ebury Feb 2014)
Capability ID | Capability Description | Mapping Type | ATT&CK ID | ATT&CK Name |
---|---|---|---|---|
SI-07 | Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
CM-06 | Configuration Settings | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
CM-05 | Access Restrictions for Change | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
CM-03 | Configuration Change Control | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
AC-06 | Least Privilege | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
AC-03 | Access Enforcement | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
AC-02 | Account Management | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |
SI-04 | System Monitoring | Protects | T1562.012 | Disable or Modify Linux Audit System |