---
title: Deprecated - Potential Reverse Shell via Suspicious Parent Process
description: This detection rule detects the creation of a shell through a suspicious parent child relationship. Any reverse shells spawned by the specified utilities...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/security/prebuilt-rules/rules/_deprecated/execution_shell_suspicious_parent_child_revshell_linux
products:
  - Elastic Security
---

# Deprecated - Potential Reverse Shell via Suspicious Parent Process
<warning>
  This rule has been deprecated as of 2023/11/02.
</warning>

This detection rule detects the creation of a shell through a suspicious parent child relationship. Any reverse shells
spawned by the specified utilities that use a forked process to initialize the connection attempt will be captured
through this rule. Attackers may spawn reverse shells to establish persistence onto a target system.
**Rule type**: eql
**Rule indices**:
- logs-endpoint.events.*

**Rule Severity**: medium
**Risk Score**: 47
**Runs every**: 
**Searches indices from**: `now-9m`
**Maximum alerts per execution**: 100
**References**:
- [[https://github.com/swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings/blob/master/Methodology%20and%20Resources/Reverse%20Shell%20Cheatsheet.md](https://github.com/swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings/blob/master/Methodology%20and%20Resources/Reverse%20Shell%20Cheatsheet.md)](https://github.com/swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings/blob/master/Methodology%20and%20Resources/Reverse%20Shell%20Cheatsheet.md)

**Tags**:
- Domain: Endpoint
- OS: Linux
- Use Case: Threat Detection
- Tactic: Execution
- Data Source: Elastic Defend

**Version**: 6
**Rule authors**:
- Elastic

**Rule license**: Elastic License v2
This rule requires data coming in from Elastic Defend.

### Elastic Defend Integration Setup

Elastic Defend is integrated into the Elastic Agent using Fleet. Upon configuration, the integration allows the Elastic Agent to monitor events on your host and send data to the Elastic Security app.

#### Prerequisite Requirements:

- Fleet is required for Elastic Defend.
- To configure Fleet Server refer to the [documentation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/fleet-server.html).


#### The following steps should be executed in order to add the Elastic Defend integration on a Linux System:

- Go to the Kibana home page and click "Add integrations".
- In the query bar, search for "Elastic Defend" and select the integration to see more details about it.
- Click "Add Elastic Defend".
- Configure the integration name and optionally add a description.
- Select the type of environment you want to protect, either "Traditional Endpoints" or "Cloud Workloads".
- Select a configuration preset. Each preset comes with different default settings for Elastic Agent, you can further customize these later by configuring the Elastic Defend integration policy. [Helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/configure-endpoint-integration-policy.html).
- We suggest selecting "Complete EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)" as a configuration setting, that provides "All events; all preventions"
- Enter a name for the agent policy in "New agent policy name". If other agent policies already exist, you can click the "Existing hosts" tab and select an existing policy instead.
  For more details on Elastic Agent configuration settings, refer to the [helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/8.10/agent-policy.html).
- Click "Save and Continue".
- To complete the integration, select "Add Elastic Agent to your hosts" and continue to the next section to install the Elastic Agent on your hosts.
  For more details on Elastic Defend refer to the [helper guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/install-endpoint.html).


## Investigation guide

This rule was deprecated due to its addition to the umbrella `Potential Reverse Shell via Suspicious Child Process` (76e4d92b-61c1-4a95-ab61-5fd94179a1ee) rule.

## Rule Query

```eql
sequence by host.id, process.parent.entity_id with maxspan=1s
[ process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "fork" and (
  (process.name : "python*" and process.args == "-c" and not process.args == "/usr/bin/supervisord") or
  (process.name : "php*" and process.args == "-r") or
  (process.name : "perl" and process.args == "-e") or
  (process.name : "ruby" and process.args in ("-e", "-rsocket")) or
  (process.name : "lua*" and process.args == "-e") or
  (process.name : "openssl" and process.args : "-connect") or
  (process.name : ("nc", "ncat", "netcat") and process.args_count >= 3 and not process.args == "-z") or
  (process.name : "telnet" and process.args_count >= 3) or
  (process.name : "awk")) and 
  process.parent.name : ("python*", "php*", "perl", "ruby", "lua*", "openssl", "nc", "netcat", "ncat", "telnet", "awk") ]
[ network where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action in ("connection_attempted", "connection_accepted") and 
  process.name : ("python*", "php*", "perl", "ruby", "lua*", "openssl", "nc", "netcat", "ncat", "telnet", "awk") and
  destination.ip != null and destination.ip != "127.0.0.1" and destination.ip != "::1" ]
```

**Framework:** MITRE ATT&CK
- Tactic:
  - Name: Execution
  - Id: TA0002
  - Reference URL: [[https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/](https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/)](https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/)
- Technique:
  - Name: Command and Scripting Interpreter
  - Id: T1059
  - Reference URL: [[https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/)](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/)
- Sub Technique:
  - Name: Unix Shell
  - Id: T1059.004
  - Reference URL: [[https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/004/](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/004/)](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/004/)

**Framework:** MITRE ATT&CK
- Tactic:
  - Name: Command and Control
  - Id: TA0011
  - Reference URL: [[https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/](https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/)](https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/)
- Technique:
  - Name: Application Layer Protocol
  - Id: T1071
  - Reference URL: [[https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1071/](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1071/)](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1071/)