🌍 Environment Read From ProcFS
Quick Explanation
Quick Summary: The environ_read_from_procfs recipe detects when a process accesses the environment variables of another process via process filesystem interfaces. While this operation can have legitimate debugging or monitoring purposes, it may also indicate system information discovery or an exfiltration attempt. Environment variables often contain sensitive information such as credentials, API tokens, or other configuration secrets, making such access potentially harmful if abused. This detection highlights suspicious behavior related to recent code changes or pipeline activities.
More Information
📋 Detection Metadata
Description: environ read from procfs
Tactic: Discovery
Technique: System Information Discovery
Importance: High
🔍 Event Analysis
This detection event focuses on the access to process environment variable interfaces, which contain environment variables for specific processes. Environment variables are frequently used to store sensitive information such as database credentials, API keys, or tokens required for application functionality. Accessing these interfaces without proper authorization is a clear security concern and could indicate a reconnaissance effort or an active exfiltration attempt.
For example, an attacker could read process environment variables to extract sensitive credentials or access tokens used by critical processes. These could then be exfiltrated to an external server or used directly to gain unauthorized access to resources. The information could also reveal runtime parameters, configurations, or debugging flags, which may help attackers further exploit the system.
In legitimate contexts, access to process environment variables is commonly seen during debugging or monitoring. However, unauthorized or unexpected access to these interfaces-especially multiple times or across multiple processes-should be treated as a potential indicator of compromise. The high importance of this detection underscores the need to promptly investigate the source of the behavior and mitigate any associated risks.
From a cybersecurity perspective, such an event could align with MITRE ATT&CK techniques T1057 (Process Discovery) and T1218 (System Information Discovery). Attackers might leverage these techniques as part of broader reconnaissance efforts or data exfiltration strategies. Forensic analysis would involve correlating the access attempts with network traffic, process behavior, and system logs to identify potential threats.
💡 Security Implications
🔄 CI/CD Pipeline
The detection of environment variable access from the process filesystem raises significant security concerns within a CI/CD pipeline. It suggests that recent code changes, malicious scripts, or misconfigured tools might inadvertently or intentionally attempt to extract sensitive information. If merged into production, this behavior could lead to the leakage of secrets or critical system configurations, enabling attackers to execute unauthorized actions, escalate privileges, or exfiltrate data. For instance, exposed credentials could be used to access external services or APIs, potentially resulting in further compromise of infrastructure or data theft. This scenario aligns with MITRE ATT&CK techniques T1074 (Data from Local System) and T1539 (Supply Chain Compromise), where attackers exploit the build process itself as part of their attack chain.
🧪 Staging Environment
In a staging environment, adversarial testing may involve attempts to access process environment variables to gather sensitive data before production deployment. This could indicate insider threats or unauthorized access risks where developers or testers inadvertently expose critical information through misconfigured tools or scripts. Such activities can be detected by monitoring for unusual process behavior and correlating it with network activity.
🚀 Production Environment
In a production environment, unauthorized access to process environment variables represents a significant risk as sensitive data could be directly exfiltrated. This type of attack often involves lateral movement within the network (T1027) and can lead to further compromise if credentials are used to gain access to other systems.
🛡️ Recommended Actions
✅ CI/CD Actions
- Review Recent Code Changes: Examine any recent commits or merges for unauthorized code that might be accessing process environment variables. Focus on scripts or tools that have been recently added or modified.
- Conduct Security Audits: Regularly schedule and conduct security audits on your CI/CD pipeline to ensure that there are no security gaps that could be exploited to access sensitive information.
- Educate Developers: Provide training for developers about the security risks associated with handling environment variables and accessing system files, emphasizing secure coding practices.
✅ Staging Actions
- Simulate Attack Scenarios: Regularly perform security tests and simulations to check if environment variables can be accessed through process filesystem interfaces and to determine the potential impact.
- Tighten Access Controls: Ensure that only authorized personnel and processes have the necessary permissions to access critical files and directories.
- Verify Configuration and Deployment Scripts: Check all deployment scripts and configurations for any unintentional commands or settings that might expose sensitive data.
✅ Production Actions
- Immediate Incident Response: If unauthorized access to process environment variables is detected, initiate an incident response to determine the scope of the exposure and mitigate any ongoing risk.
- Forensic Analysis: Conduct a thorough forensic analysis to trace back the source of the access, examining logs, network traffic, and system activities around the time of the detection.
- Review and Restrict Access Permissions: Review the access permissions on process filesystem interfaces and enforce strict access controls to prevent unauthorized access.