awesome-malware-persistence
Malware persistence techniques
A curated list of techniques and tools for maintaining access to systems after initial entry
A curated list of awesome malware persistence tools and resources.
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Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Generic | |||
MITRE ATT&CK tactic "TA0003 - Persistence" | MITRE ATT&CK tactic "TA0003 - Persistence" | ||
forensic artifact repository | 1,062 | 3 months ago | Forensic artifact repository covers persistence techniques in their artifacts |
Sigma rules | 8,371 | 6 days ago | Sigma rules which covers persistence techniques. You can even use filters such as or specifically for one technique |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Linux | |||
Linux Malware Persistence with Cron | Blog post about linux persistence using cron jobs | ||
Linux Persistence Techniques | List of persistence techniques | ||
Linux Red Team Persistence Techniques | List of persistence techniques | ||
PANIX - Persistence Against *NIX - Features | 410 | 3 months ago | List of persistence techniques |
Linux Detection Engineering - A primer on persistence mechanisms | List of Linux persistence mechanisms | ||
ebpfkit | 761 | over 1 year ago | Rootkit leveraging eBPF |
TripleCross | 1,786 | 8 months ago | Rootkit leveraging eBPF |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / macOS | |||
theevilbit's series "Beyond the good ol' LaunchAgents" | List of macOS persistence beyond just the LaunchDaemons or LaunchAgents | ||
KnockKnock | 450 | about 2 months ago | A persistence detection tool for macOS to scan for persistence mechanisms on macOS. Specific persistence locations are found in the folder, e.g. or |
PoisonApple | 221 | almost 3 years ago | Learn about various macOS persistence techniques by looking at the source code of PoisonApple |
How malware persists on macOS | List of macOS persistence mechanisms | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Windows | |||
Hexacorn's blog | Hexacorn's blog category for persistence category including the series "Beyond good ol' Run key" | ||
Autoruns | You can learn which Windows persistence mechanisms are checked by looking at the output of Autoruns on your own client. Categories and the different locations where things were found are seen in the output. A disassembly of Autoruns lists a subset of the entries which are scanned | ||
PowerShell implementation of Autoruns | 256 | 7 months ago | Another way to find Windows persistence locations is to look at the source code of the PowerShell version of Autoruns. Bonus: A history of the covered persistence locations for each Autoruns version is found at the end of the module file too, which is so awesome! |
Common malware persistence mechanisms | Different persistence mechanisms for different vectors are described | ||
Malware persistence techniques | Good summary of multiple persistence mechanisms, ranging from multiple registry keys to more advanced one, like COM hijacking | ||
Detecting & Removing an Attacker's WMI Persistence | Blog post about detecting and removing WMI persistence | ||
Windows Persistence using WinLogon | Blog post about abusing WinLogon | ||
Untangling Kovter's persistence methods | Blog post about Kovter's persistens methos, among others, hiding in registry. Another one is | ||
Persistence using GlobalFlags in Image File Execution Options – Hidden from Autoruns.exe | Blog post about abusing GlobalFlag for process execution | ||
Uncovering a MyKings Variant With Bootloader Persistence via Managed Detection and Response | Blog post about bootloader persistence | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Windows / Various blog posts about COM/CLSID hijacking | |||
COM Object hijacking: the discreet way of persistence, 2014 | |||
Persistence – COM Hijacking, 2020 | |||
Abusing COM hijacking in combination with scheduled tasks, 2016 | |||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Windows | |||
Hunting for persistence via Microsoft Exchange Server or Outlook | Blog post about Microsoft Exchange server persistence | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Cloud | |||
Shadow Linking: The Persistence Vector of SaaS Identity Threat | Abuse of additional identity providers to persist in an environment | ||
Persisting on Entra ID applications and User Managed Identities with Federated Credentials | Persist on Entra ID applications and User Managed Identities with Federated Credentials | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Techniques / Firmware | |||
MoonBounce: the dark side of UEFI firmware | An in-depth write up about one particular UEFI bootkit | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Persistence Removal / Generic | |||
Awesome Incident Response | 7,682 | 4 months ago | Use the tools and resources for security incident response, aimed to help security analysts and DFIR teams |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Persistence Removal / Windows | |||
PowerSponse | 38 | over 2 years ago | PowerSponse includes various commands for cleanup of persistence mechanisms |
Removing Backdoors – Powershell Empire Edition | Various blog posts handle the removal of WMI implants | ||
RegDelNull | Removal of registry keys with null bytes - used e.g. in run keys for evasion | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Detection Testing / Generic | |||
Atomic Red Team | 9,782 | 8 days ago | Atomic Red Team supports also the MITRE ATT&CK persistence techniques, see e.g. |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Detection Testing / Linux | |||
PANIX | 410 | 3 months ago | A highly customizable Linux persistence tool. Perform various persistence techniques against Linux systems, among others Debian and RHEL |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Detection Testing / macOS | |||
PoisonApple | 221 | almost 3 years ago | Perform various persistence techniques on macOS |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Detection Testing / Windows | |||
hasherezade persistence demos | 219 | over 1 year ago | Various (also non standard) persistence methods used by malware for testing own detection, among others COM hijacking demo is found in the repo |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Prevention / macOS | |||
BlockBlock | 642 | 2 months ago | A tool which provides continual protection by monitoring persistence locations and protects them accordingly. Similar to KnockKnock but for blocking |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Collection / Generic | |||
Awesome Forensics | 3,999 | 11 days ago | Use the tools from this list which includes awesome free (mostly open source) forensic analysis tools and resources. They help collecting the persistence mechanisms at scale, e.g. by using remote forensics tools |
osquery | Query persistence mechanisms on clients | ||
OSSEC | 4,502 | 6 months ago | Use rules and logs from the HIDS to detection configuration changes |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Collection / Linux | |||
Linux Security and Monitoring Scripts | 318 | about 1 month ago | Security and monitoring scripts you can use to monitor your Linux installation for security-related events or for an investigation. Among other finding systemd unit files used for malware persistence |
Awesome Malware Persistence / Collection / macOS | |||
KnockKnock | A tool to uncover persistently installed software in order to generically reveal such malware. See | ||
Dylib Hijack Scanner or DHS | A simple utility that will scan your computer for applications that are either susceptible to dylib hijacking or have been hijacked. See | ||
Awesome Malware Persistence / Collection / Windows | |||
Autoruns | A powerful persistence collection tool on Windows is Autoruns. It collects different categories and persistence information from a live system and . There is a UI and a command line program and the output format can be set to CSV which can then be imported into your log collection system of choice | ||
AutorunsToWinEventLog.ps1 | 1,228 | 4 months ago | Instead of using CSV output and copy these file to the server, you can use the AutorunsToWinEventLog script to convert the Autoruns output to Windows event logs and rely on standard Windows event log forwarding |
PowerShell Autoruns | 256 | 7 months ago | A PowerShell version of Autoruns |
PersistenceSniper | 1,911 | 4 months ago | Powershell module to hunt for persistence implanted in Windows machines |
RegRipper | Extracts various persistence mechanisms from the registry files directly | ||
RECmd | 131 | 18 days ago | Extract various persistence mechanisms, e.g. by using the config file to extract user's CLSID information |
KAPE | The tool allows collecting various predefined artifactgs using targets and modules, see which include persistence mechanisms, among others there's a collection of , and or a module |