ATT&CK · T1053.003 · sub-technique
Cron
Tactics: execution, persistence, privilege-escalation
About
Adversaries may abuse the <code>cron</code> utility to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code. The <code>cron</code> utility is a time-based job scheduler for Unix-like operating systems. The <code> crontab</code> file contains the schedule of cron entries to be run and the specified times for execution. Any <code>crontab</code> files are stored in operating system-specific file paths. An adversary may use <code>cron</code> in Linux or Unix environments to execute programs at system startup or on a scheduled basis for Persistence. In ESXi environments, cron jobs must be created directly via the crontab file (e.g., `/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root`).
Used by actors
3 known groups
Software
12 malware/tools implement this
Corpus indicators tagged with this technique
115 indicators in the corpus carry T1053.003.
| Indicator | Type | Family | Sev | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cve-2025-7852 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2025-34054 | cve | — | 85 | 4 |
| cve-2021-29441 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2025-7443 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2021-27137 | cve | — | 85 | 8 |
| cve-2025-34037 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2025-34117 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2021-25646 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2026-3844 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2025-34085 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2026-5815 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2016-0638 | cve | phishing | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2014-2321 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2007-5693 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2021-4045 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2020-17456 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2017-18377 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2013-7471 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2026-1969 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2026-0740 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2025-12057 | cve | — | 85 | 1 |
| cve-2016-15047 | cve | — | 85 | 4 |
| 3ddb67ab079509dd1e7ac77fc4cfed25a271526668c68f8a2221e96a4cc21812 | hash | — | 80 | 4 |
| 873f1277a42de5c82f869459e7fb7c94554a642b | hash | — | 80 | 3 |
| 41e8e327abbf2ba721be677ad8a416a7295708257b39688a0af03275fb199cec | hash | — | 80 | 4 |
| 8fc2d35b66c692d37a85ae9d30dc5c7f06f0b3eaf01112a5a6398a1a0feb3aee | hash | — | 80 | 4 |
| 1cd9eccc8e73d60164390beddf4cdc48 | hash | — | 80 | 4 |
| 703a8383a3df68abce59b02fcd0b5678 | hash | — | 80 | 4 |
| 28f871af1833935beba160b51e4a732c43a5dde5 | hash | — | 80 | 4 |
| b8eed63ab9cbdca494f26a6f66bfd4a0a693b3f0 | hash | — | 80 | 3 |
Showing the top 30 by severity of 115.