MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Privilege Escalation T1546.005
Description

Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by an interrupt signal. The <code>trap</code> 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 <code>ctrl+c</code> and <code>ctrl+d</code>. 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 <code>trap 'command list' signals</code> where "command list" will be executed when "signals" are received.(Citation: Trap Manual)(Citation: Cyberciti Trap Statements)

Supported Platforms
macOS Linux
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2020-01-24T14:17:43.906Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious '
                'content triggered by an interrupt signal. The '
                '<code>trap</code> 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 <code>ctrl+c</code> and <code>ctrl+d</code>.\n'
                '\n'
                '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 '
                '<code>trap \'command list\' signals</code> where "command '
                'list" will be executed when "signals" are received.(Citation: '
                'Trap Manual)(Citation: Cyberciti Trap Statements)',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1546.005',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/005'},
                         {'description': 'ss64. (n.d.). trap. Retrieved May '
                                         '21, 2019.',
                          'source_name': 'Trap Manual',
                          'url': 'https://ss64.com/bash/trap.html'},
                         {'description': 'Cyberciti. (2016, March 29). Trap '
                                         'statement. Retrieved May 21, 2019.',
                          'source_name': 'Cyberciti Trap Statements',
                          'url': 'https://bash.cyberciti.biz/guide/Trap_statement'}],
 'id': 'attack-pattern--63220765-d418-44de-8fae-694b3912317d',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'privilege-escalation'},
                       {'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'persistence'}],
 'modified': '2025-10-24T17:48:51.725Z',
 'name': 'Trap',
 'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
 'spec_version': '2.1',
 'type': 'attack-pattern',
 'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_detection': '',
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
 'x_mitre_is_subtechnique': True,
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_platforms': ['macOS', 'Linux'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.1'}
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