Sensitive file read
highLinuxSingle eventstablelinux.credential_access.sensitive_file_read · v1.0.0
What it detects
Access to a sensitive credential file — /etc/shadow, an SSH private key (id_rsa/id_ed25519), or cloud credentials (~/.aws/credentials) — a credential- access signal.
MITRE ATT&CK mapping
False positives and triage
Backup and config-management jobs read some of these. Confirm the reading process and user; a shell/interpreter reading /etc/shadow or an SSH key is suspicious.
The rule
Declarative YAML read by the detection engine — data, never executed. Confidence 70%. Source: rules/linux/sensitive_file_read.yaml, licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
id: linux.credential_access.sensitive_file_read
version: 1.0.0
status: stable
severity: high
confidence: 0.7
platforms: [linux]
mitre_techniques: [T1003.008, T1552.001]
description: |
Access to a sensitive credential file — /etc/shadow, an SSH private key
(id_rsa/id_ed25519), or cloud credentials (~/.aws/credentials) — a credential-
access signal.
match:
file_path_regex: '(?i)/etc/shadow$|/\.ssh/id_(rsa|ed25519|ecdsa|dsa)$|/\.aws/credentials$|/\.kube/config$'
false_positive_guidance: |
Backup and config-management jobs read some of these. Confirm the reading
process and user; a shell/interpreter reading /etc/shadow or an SSH key is
suspicious.
Related detections
Run this rule on your own logs — offline
KIROSEC runs this rule and the rest of the library over Windows, Linux, macOS and cloud audit logs on the analyst's own machine. Every alert links to the events that raised it, and nothing leaves the device.