OSSEC / HIDS Rule 5302

OSSEC / HIDS rule catalog

• Rule family: OSSEC / HIDS
• Rule ID: 5302
• Definition status: Present in current source
• Alert message / subject: User missed the password to change UID to root.
• Rule level: 9
• Definition checked: 2026-10-21

Interpretation and response

This event is recorded as “User missed the password to change UID to root.” Review the originating log and the affected host or service to determine whether the activity was expected.

An OSSEC/HIDS event records or correlates activity. Blocking depends on the originating application and any separately configured Active Response policy; an alert alone does not prove that an attack was blocked.

Documentation

The following guidance was migrated from the historical wiki and reviewed against the rule definition. Legacy ASL product names and interface instructions refer to the versions documented then. Use the current metadata above and your installed configuration when interpreting thresholds, notification settings and response behavior.

Rule ID

5302

Status

The wiki marked this rule Active at the source revision. Current definition status is shown above.

Description

This event occurs when a user attempts to switch user contexts to the root account using the ‘su root’ command and types the wrong root password.

Guidance

Repeated instances of this event could indicate attempted system abuse.

False Positives

A legitimate event may still trigger this rule. Review the surrounding activity before deciding whether it is malicious. This rule detects when files change, therefore, it is not recommended that you disable this rule. Instead, if you do not wish to be alerted when a specific file or files in a particular directory change, please log into the ASL GUI, click on the ASL tab, select the File Integrity menu options and modify your configuration to ignore this file or directory.

If you believe that this is a false positive, please report this to our security team can determine if this is a legitimate case, or if its clever attack on your system. Instructions to report false positives are detailed on the Reporting False Positives documentation page.

Similar Rules

5301

Source and revision

Migrated from HIDS_5302, wiki page 918, revision 6300 (20210330). Documentation review: 2026-10-21. An archived wiki status of Active is not a current deployment status.

For assistance, provide the rule ID, installed product and rule version, and a sanitized event to Atomicorp support .