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T1685.004: Disable or Modify Linux Audit System Log

View on MITRE ATT&CK The MITRE Corporation · Published 15/04/2026 00:54 · Modified 04/05/2026 16:31

Essential information

MITRE technique ID
T1685.004
Confidence
75/100
Revoked
No
Published
15/04/2026 00:54
Modified
04/05/2026 16:31
Author / Source
The MITRE Corporation

Platforms

linux

Description

Adversaries may disable or modify the Linux Audit system to hide malicious activity and avoid detection. Linux admins use the Linux Audit system to track security-relevant information on a system. The Linux Audit system operates at the kernel-level and maintains event logs on application and system activity such as process, network, file, and login events based on pre-configured rules. Often referred to as `auditd`, this is the name of the daemon used to write events to disk and is governed by the parameters set in the `audit.conf` configuration file. Two primary ways to configure the log generation rules are through the command line `auditctl` utility and the file `/etc/audit/audit.rules`, containing a sequence of `auditctl` commands loaded at boot time.(Citation: IzyKnows auditd threat detection 2022)(Citation: Red Hat Linux Disable or Mod) With root privileges, adversaries may be able to ensure their activity is not logged through disabling the Audit system service, editing the configuration/rule files, or by hooking the Audit system library functions. Using the command line, adversaries can disable the Audit system service through killing processes associated with `auditd` daemon or use `systemctl` to stop the Audit service. Adversaries can also hook Audit system functions to disable logging or modify the rules contained in the `/etc/audit/audit.rules` or `audit.conf` files to ignore malicious activity.(Citation: ESET Ebury Feb 2014)

Kill chain phases

Kill chainPhase
mitre-attack defense-impairment
mitre-attack-v19 defense-impairment

Marking (TLP)

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External references