Sigma rule: Process Discovery

Rule

Title

Process Discovery

Status

stable

Level

low

Author

Ömer Günal, oscd.community, CheraaghiMilad

Date

2020-10-06

Modified

2022-07-07

File

rules-threat-hunting/linux/process_creation/proc_creation_lnx_susp_running_process_discovery.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects process discovery commands. Adversaries may attempt to get information about running processes on a system.
Information obtained could be used to gain an understanding of common software/applications running on systems within the network

Log source

product

linux

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith:
        - '/atop'
        - '/htop'
        - '/pgrep'
        - '/ps'
        - '/pstree'
        - '/top'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administration activities

Tags

• attack.discovery
• attack.t1057
• detection.threat-hunting

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1057

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1057/T1057.md
• https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/show-all-running-processes-in-linux/

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