T1547.013sub-technique of T1547 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution

XDG Autostart Entries

Linuxnothing on this site yetT1547.013 on attack.mitre.org

Adversaries may add or modify XDG Autostart Entries to execute malicious programs or commands when a user’s desktop environment is loaded at login. XDG Autostart entries are available for any XDG-compliant Linux system. XDG Autostart entries use Desktop Entry files (`.desktop`) to configure the user’s desktop environment upon user login.
MITRE ATT&CK 19.2, retrieved 2026-09-12

If this is happening now

Checklists and playbooks to open while the alert is still live.

Playbook for this stage

Suspicious execution on an endpoint

An EDR alert, an unexplained process, or a user reporting something odd.

Playbook for this stage

Cloud account compromise

Impossible travel, an unrecognised inbox rule, or a reported invoice-fraud attempt.

how MITRE says to see it

Linux Detection Strategy for T1547.013 - XDG Autostart Entries

Correlation of file creation/modification of `.desktop` files within XDG autostart directories, followed by execution of processes at user login initiated by the desktop environment. Malicious entries typically include suspicious Exec paths or anomalous names and are not associated with installed packages.

what reduces it

M1033 Limit Software Installation. Restrict software installation to trusted repositories only and be cautious of orphaned software packages.
M1018 User Account Management. Limit privileges of user accounts so only authorized privileged users can create and modify XDG autostart entries.
M1022 Restrict File and Directory Permissions. Restrict write access to XDG autostart entries to only select privileged users.

the rest of T1547

T1547.001 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder · 8 on this site
T1547.002 Authentication Package · not covered yet
T1547.003 Time Providers · not covered yet
T1547.004 Winlogon Helper DLL · not covered yet
T1547.005 Security Support Provider · not covered yet
T1547.006 Kernel Modules and Extensions · not covered yet
T1547.007 Re-opened Applications · not covered yet
T1547.008 LSASS Driver · not covered yet
T1547.009 Shortcut Modification · not covered yet
T1547.010 Port Monitors · not covered yet
T1547.012 Print Processors · not covered yet
T1547.014 Active Setup · not covered yet
T1547.015 Login Items · not covered yet

The description, detection analytics and mitigations are reproduced from MITRE ATT&CK, version 19.2, under its terms of use. The checklists, hunts, labs and everything else linked here are this site’s.