name: Linux Persistence Techniques
id: e40d13e5-d38b-457e-af2a-e8e6a2f2b516
version: 2
creation_date: '2021-12-21'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
description: Monitor for activities and techniques associated with maintaining persistence on a Linux system--a sign that an adversary may have compromised your environment.
narrative: Maintaining persistence is one of the first steps taken by attackers after the initial compromise. Attackers leverage various custom and built-in tools to ensure survivability and persistent access within a compromised enterprise. This Analytic Story provides searches to help you identify various behaviors used by attackers to maintain persistent access to a Linux environment.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/
    - https://kifarunix.com/scheduling-tasks-using-at-command-in-linux/
    - https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/at/
    - https://www.cert.ssi.gouv.fr/uploads/CERTFR-2021-CTI-005.pdf
category:
    - Adversary Tactics
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
usecase: Advanced Threat Detection