> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/analytics-alerts/alerts-by-name/uncommon-access-to-etc-passwd.md).
# Uncommon access to /etc/passwd
### Synopsis
| Field | Value |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Activation Period | 14 Days |
| Training Period | 30 Days |
| Test Period | N/A (single event) |
| Deduplication Period | 1 Day |
| Required Data | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) |
| Detector Tags | EDR Discovery Analytics, Credentials Grabbing Analytics |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Informational |
### Description
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
### Attacker's Goals
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
### Investigative actions
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
### Variations
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd by a security testing tool
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Medium |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd by a potentially known credential dumper or enumeration script
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Medium |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd by a potential Webshell
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Medium |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon link creation to /etc/passwd
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd with both /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow in the command line
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003), OS Credential Dumping: /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow (T1003.008) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd, involving a network utility
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd from temporary or world writable directories
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd with additional sensitive files in the command line
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd via a new inline bash script
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd using an interactive binary
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
Uncommon access to /etc/passwd using an interactive shell
**Synopsis**
| Field | Value |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ATT\&CK Tactic | Discovery (TA0007), Credential Access (TA0006) |
| ATT\&CK Technique | File and Directory Discovery (T1083), System Service Discovery (T1007), System Owner/User Discovery (T1033), System Information Discovery (T1082), Account Discovery (T1087), Account Discovery: Local Account (T1087.001), OS Credential Dumping (T1003) |
| Severity | Low |
**Description**
A process made an uncommon attempt to access /etc/passwd.
**Attacker's Goals**
* Attackers may attempt to access sensitive files to steal credentials, perform reconnaissance on system configurations and users, and find pathways for lateral movement.
**Investigative actions**
* Review the event's context - examine the process, its command line, and its origin to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous access.\* Assess the behavior's legitimacy: Given that this is an uncommon event, determine if this file access is an expected and authorized behavior for the actor process.
---
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