Uncommon attempt at discovering a sensitive file

Cortex XSIAM Analytics Alert Reference by Alert name

Product
Cortex XSIAM
Last date published
2026-01-04
Category
Analytics Alert Reference
Index by
Alert name

Synopsis

Activation Period

14 Days

Training Period

30 Days

Test Period

N/A (single event)

Deduplication Period

1 Day

Required Data

  • Requires:
    • XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)

Detection Modules

Detector Tags

EDR Discovery Analytics

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Informational

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering /etc/passwd

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Informational

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering /etc/hosts

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Informational

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file by a security testing tool

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Medium

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file by a potentially known credential dumper or enumeration script

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Medium

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file by a potential Webshell

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Low

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file by a script that was executed by a rare causality

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Low

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file from temporary or world writable directories

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Low

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file by a rare process that was executed by cron

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Low

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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 attempt at discovering a sensitive file by a non-GTFOBIN process

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Discovery (TA0007)

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Low

Description

A process made an uncommon attempt to access a file that may contain sensitive information.

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.