Elastic Security Detection Rules

Suspicious Hidden Child Process of Launchd

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-18
Created 6 years ago on 2020-01-07

About

Identifies the execution of a launchd child process with a hidden file. An adversary can establish persistence by installing a new logon item, launch agent, or daemon that executes upon login.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Create or Modify System Process (T1543)(opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Hide Artifacts (T1564)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "macos" and event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
 process.name like~ ".*" and process.parent.name == "launchd"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Suspicious Hidden Child Process of Launchd in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).