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User Has Been Deleted Via Userdel — Sigma Rule

Sigma rule 08f26069-6f80-474b-8d1f-d971c6fedea0. User Has Been Deleted Via Userdel — Sigma Rule. Detects execution of the "userdel" binary. Which is used to delete a user account and related files. This is sometimes abused by threat actors in order to cover their tracks

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Tuan Le (NCSGroup). Source status: test; severity: medium. Source dates: 2022-12-26 / not supplied.

{
  "product": "linux",
  "category": "process_creation"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: 9e496bef69fe6c2932295d13c9a5d9778f5bb86eb7e733b81cf1da41803a2225

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

title: User Has Been Deleted Via Userdel
id: 08f26069-6f80-474b-8d1f-d971c6fedea0
status: test
description: Detects execution of the "userdel" binary. Which is used to delete a user account and related files. This is sometimes abused by threat actors in order to cover their tracks
references:
    - https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-delete-group-in-linux/
    - https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-remove-user-command/
    - https://www.cybrary.it/blog/0p3n/linux-commands-used-attackers/
    - https://linux.die.net/man/8/userdel
author: Tuan Le (NCSGroup)
date: 2022-12-26
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1531
logsource:
    product: linux
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/userdel'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administrator activities
level: medium

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

  • Legitimate administrator activities

Source references

Connected ecosystem references

Exact source-tagged techniques

Telemetry review

Read the original logsource above, then inspect the linked detection workspaces for technique-level sensor context. No per-rule telemetry equivalence is inferred.

Pinned research references. No browser attack runner, live simulation result or validated detector is asserted. Source mappings and validation limits are preserved. ATT&CK / Atomic provenance · Detection provenance.