Event Triggered Execution: Trap
- ID
- T1546.005
- Tactics
- TA0003 Persistence, TA0004 Privilege Escalation
- Sub-technique of
- T1546 Event Triggered Execution
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux
- Data sources
- Process Creation, File Modification, File Access
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 25 Oct 2025
Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by an interrupt signal. The trap command allows programs and shells to specify commands that will be executed upon receiving interrupt signals. A common situation is a script allowing for graceful termination and handling of common keyboard interrupts like ctrl+c and ctrl+d.
Adversaries can use this to register code to be executed when the shell encounters specific interrupts as a persistence mechanism. Trap commands are of the following format trap 'command list' signals where "command list" will be executed when "signals" are received.[1][2]
Detection
- DET0369 Detection Strategy for Event Triggered Execution via Trap (T1546.005)
Data components: Process Creation, File Modification, File Access
