Sigma rule: Inline Python Execution - Spawn Shell Via OS System Library

Rule

Title

Inline Python Execution - Spawn Shell Via OS System Library

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Li Ling, Andy Parkidomo, Robert Rakowski, Blake Hartstein (Bloomberg L.P.)

Date

2024-09-02

File

rules/linux/process_creation/proc_creation_lnx_python_shell_os_system.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of inline Python code via the "-c" in order to call the "system" function from the "os" library, and spawn a shell.

Log source

product

linux

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '/python'
          - '/python2'
          - '/python3'
    - Image|contains:
          - '/python2.'  # python image is always of the form ../python3.10; ../python is just a symlink
          - '/python3.'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ' -c '
        - 'os.system('
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '/bin/bash'
        - '/bin/dash'
        - '/bin/fish'
        - '/bin/sh'
        - '/bin/zsh'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.t1059

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1059

References

• https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/python/#shell

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_python_shell_os_system.yml