Name:Linux Auditd Auditd Daemon Abort id:76d6573f-c4ab-4fa1-8390-c036416d4add version:1 date:2025-06-06 author:Teoderick Contreras, Splunk status:production type:Anomaly Description:The following analytic detects the abnormal termination of the Linux audit daemon (auditd) by identifying DAEMON_ABORT events in audit logs. These terminations suggest a serious failure of the auditing subsystem, potentially due to resource exhaustion, corruption, or malicious interference. Unlike a clean shutdown, DAEMON_ABORT implies that audit logging may have been disabled without system administrator intent. Alerts should be generated on detection and correlated with DAEMON_START, DAEMON_END, and system logs to determine root cause. If no DAEMON_START follows soon after, or this pattern repeats, it indicates a high-severity issue that impacts log integrity and should be immediately investigated. Data_source:
-Linux Auditd Daemon Abort
search:`linux_auditd` type=DAEMON_ABORT | rename host as dest | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by type op res uid dest pid | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `linux_auditd_auditd_daemon_abort_filter`
how_to_implement:To implement this detection, the process begins by ingesting auditd data, that consist SYSCALL, TYPE, EXECVE and PROCTITLE events, which captures command-line executions and process details on Unix/Linux systems. These logs should be ingested and processed using Splunk Add-on for Unix and Linux (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/833), which is essential for correctly parsing and categorizing the data. The next step involves normalizing the field names to match the field names set by the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to ensure consistency across different data sources and enhance the efficiency of data modeling. This approach enables effective monitoring and detection of linux endpoints where auditd is deployed known_false_positives:Administrator or network operator can use this application for automation purposes. Please update the filter macros to remove false positives. References: -https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/6/html/security_guide/sec-audit_record_types drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") starthoursago=168 | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Compromised Linux Host' asset_type:Endpoint mitre_attack_id: - 'T1562.012' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' security_domain:endpoint
