Sigma rule: Access of Sudoers File Content

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-07abaa94d146, updated 2025-06-04T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Access of Sudoers File Content
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2022-06-20
Modified
2025-06-04
File
rules/linux/process_creation/proc_creation_lnx_susp_process_reading_sudoers.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of a text-based file access or inspection utilities to read the content of /etc/sudoers in order to potentially list all users that have sudo rights.

Log source

product
linux
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith:
        - '/cat'
        - '/ed'
        - '/egrep'
        - '/emacs'
        - '/fgrep'
        - '/grep'
        - '/head'
        - '/less'
        - '/more'
        - '/nano'
        - '/tail'
    CommandLine|contains: ' /etc/sudoers'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate administration activities

Tags

  • attack.reconnaissance
  • attack.t1592.004

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/linux/process_creation/proc_creation_lnx_susp_process_reading_sudoers.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Access of Sudoers File Content" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/linux/process_creation/proc_creation_lnx_susp_process_reading_sudoers.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Access of Sudoers File Content",
entity page, dataset version ref-07abaa94d146, updated 2025-06-04T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/0f79c4d2-4e1f-4683-9c36-b5469a665e06 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 0f79c4d2-4e1f-4683-9c36-b5469a665e06, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.