Adversaries may modify a process's in-memory arguments to change its name in order to appear as a legitimate or benign process. On Linux, the operating system stores command-line arguments in the process’s stack and passes them to the main() function as the argv array. The first element, argv[0], typically contains the process name or path - by default, the command used to actually start the process (e.g., cat /etc/passwd). By default, the Linux /proc filesystem uses this value to represent the process name. The /proc/<PID>/cmdline file reflects the contents of this memory, and tools like ps use it to display process information. Since arguments are stored in user-space memory at launch, this modification can be performed without elevated privileges.
During runtime, adversaries can erase the memory used by all command-line arguments for a process, overwriting each argument string with null bytes. This removes evidence of how the process was originally launched. They can then write a spoofed string into the memory region previously occupied by argv[0] to mimic a benign command, such as cat resolv.conf. The new command-line string is reflected in /proc/<PID>/cmdline and displayed by tools like ps.[1],[2]
References
- The Sandfly Security Team. (2022, May 11). BPFDoor - An Evasive Linux Backdoor Technical Analysis. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- Ratnesh Pandey, Yevgeny Kulakov, and Jonathan Bar Or with Saurabh Swaroop. (2022, May 19). Rise in XorDdos: A deeper look at the stealthy DDoS malware targeting Linux devices. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
Susietos užduotys
| Saito tipas | Užduotis |
|---|---|
| is related to | Techniques |
| is blocked by | Detection Strategy for Overwritten Process Arguments Masquerading |
- MITREATTACK -
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