Sigma rule: Masquerading as Linux Crond Process

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-d49fbe9b4d4c, updated 2023-08-22T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Masquerading as Linux Crond Process
Status: test
Level: medium
Author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community
Date: 2019-10-21
Modified: 2023-08-22
File: rules/linux/auditd/execve/lnx_auditd_masquerading_crond.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Masquerading occurs when the name or location of an executable, legitimate or malicious, is manipulated or abused for the sake of evading defenses and observation.
Several different variations of this technique have been observed.

Log source

product: linux
service: auditd

Detection

selection:
    type: 'execve'
    a0: 'cp'
    a1: '/bin/sh'
    a2|endswith: '/crond'
condition: selection

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1036.003

References

https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/8a82e9b66a5b4f4bc5b91089e9f24e0544f20ad7/atomics/T1036.003/T1036.003.md#atomic-test-2---masquerading-as-linux-crond-process

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/auditd/execve/lnx_auditd_masquerading_crond.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Masquerading as Linux Crond Process" by Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/linux/auditd/execve/lnx_auditd_masquerading_crond.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: Masquerading as Linux Crond Process",
entity page, dataset version ref-d49fbe9b4d4c, updated 2023-08-22T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/9d4548fa-bba0-4e88-bd66-5d5bf516cda0 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 9d4548fa-bba0-4e88-bd66-5d5bf516cda0, 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.