Sigma rule: Data Exfiltration with Wget

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-b64fe27678dc, updated 2022-12-25T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Data Exfiltration with Wget
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Pawel Mazur
Date
2021-11-18
Modified
2022-12-25
File
rules/linux/auditd/execve/lnx_auditd_data_exfil_wget.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects attempts to post the file with the usage of wget utility.
The adversary can bypass the permission restriction with the misconfigured sudo permission for wget utility which could allow them to read files like /etc/shadow.

Log source

product
linux
service
auditd

Detection

selection:
    type: EXECVE
    a0: wget
    a1|startswith: '--post-file='
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate usage of wget utility to post a file

Tags

  • attack.exfiltration
  • attack.t1048.003

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/auditd/execve/lnx_auditd_data_exfil_wget.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Data Exfiltration with Wget" by Pawel Mazur (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/linux/auditd/execve/lnx_auditd_data_exfil_wget.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: Data Exfiltration with Wget",
entity page, dataset version ref-b64fe27678dc, updated 2022-12-25T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/cb39d16b-b3b6-4a7a-8222-1cf24b686ffc (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule cb39d16b-b3b6-4a7a-8222-1cf24b686ffc, 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.