t1057-process-discovery

name	T1057_process-discovery
description	Adversaries may attempt to get information about running processes on a system.
category	information-gathering
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1057","discovery","esxi","linux","macos","network-devices","windows"]
technique_id	T1057
tactic	discovery
all_tactics	["discovery"]
platforms	["ESXi","Linux","macOS","Network Devices","Windows"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1057
tech_stack	["esxi","linux","macos","network devices","windows"]
cwe_ids	["CWE-200"]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

T1057 Process Discovery

High-Level Description

Adversaries may attempt to get information about running processes on a system. Information obtained could be used to gain an understanding of common software/applications running on systems within the network. Administrator or otherwise elevated access may provide better process details. Adversaries may use the information from Process Discovery during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether or not the adversary fully infects the target and/or attempts specific actions.

In Windows environments, adversaries could obtain details on running processes using the Tasklist utility via cmd or Get-Process via PowerShell. Information about processes can also be extracted from the output of Native API calls such as CreateToolhelp32Snapshot. In Mac and Linux, this is accomplished with the ps command. Adversaries may also opt to enumerate processes via /proc. ESXi also supports use of the ps command, as well as esxcli system process list.

On network devices, Network Device CLI commands such as show processes can be used to display current running processes.

Kill Chain Phase

• Discovery (TA0007)

Platforms: ESXi, Linux, macOS, Network Devices, Windows

What to Check

• Identify if Process Discovery technique is applicable to target environment
• Check ESXi systems for indicators of Process Discovery
• Check Linux systems for indicators of Process Discovery
• Check macOS systems for indicators of Process Discovery
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Atomic Red Team Tests

The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:

Atomic Test 1: Process Discovery - ps

Utilize ps to identify processes.

Upon successful execution, sh will execute ps and output to /tmp/loot.txt.

Supported Platforms: linux, macos

ps >> #{output_file}
ps aux >> #{output_file}