sigmamediumHunting

Linux Base64 Encoded Shebang In CLI

Detects the presence of a base64 version of the shebang in the commandline, which could indicate a malicious payload about to be decoded

MITRE ATT&CK

T1140

defense-evasion

Detection Query

selection:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - IyEvYmluL2Jhc2
    - IyEvYmluL2Rhc2
    - IyEvYmluL3pza
    - IyEvYmluL2Zpc2
    - IyEvYmluL3No
condition: selection

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-09-15

Data Sources

linuxProcess Creation Events

Platforms

linux

References

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.t1140

Raw Content

title: Linux Base64 Encoded Shebang In CLI
id: fe2f9663-41cb-47e2-b954-8a228f3b9dff
status: test
description: Detects the presence of a base64 version of the shebang in the commandline, which could indicate a malicious payload about to be decoded
references:
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/pl_pl/research/20/i/the-evolution-of-malicious-shell-scripts.html
    - https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/tree/master/linPEAS
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-09-15
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.t1140
logsource:
    product: linux
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "IyEvYmluL2Jhc2" # Note: #!/bin/bash"
            - "IyEvYmluL2Rhc2" # Note: #!/bin/dash"
            - "IyEvYmluL3pza" # Note: #!/bin/zsh"
            - "IyEvYmluL2Zpc2" # Note: #!/bin/fish
            - "IyEvYmluL3No" # Note: # !/bin/sh"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administration activities
level: medium