SSFileCopyReceiver Writing to Common Persistence Locations

Last updated 4 days ago on 2026-09-18
Created a month ago on 2026-08-19

About

Identifies the macOS Screen Sharing file copy helper SSFileCopyReceiver creating or modifying files in common persistence locations, including system-wide and per-user LaunchDaemons/LaunchAgents, shell profiles, SSH authorized_keys, cron tabs, and hidden paths under root's home directory. SSFileCopyReceiver performs file writes with root authority on behalf of a remote viewer.Pre-authentication exploitation of the Screen Sharing service (CVE-2026-65400) abuses this write primitive to establish persistence; observed in-the-wild activity dropped LaunchDaemons and modified shell startup files to run a cryptocurrency miner as root.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionUse Case: VulnerabilityTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic DefendRule Type: ES|QLPlatform: macOSVuln: CVE-2026-65400Language: esql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

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

Definition

Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
from logs-endpoint.events.file-* METADATA _id, _index, _version | WHERE host.os.type == "macos" AND event.type != "deletion" AND process.name == "SSFileCopyReceiver" AND ( file.path LIKE "/Library/LaunchDaemons/*.plist" OR file.path LIKE "/Library/LaunchAgents/*.plist" OR file.path LIKE "/Users/*/Library/LaunchAgents/*.plist" OR file.path LIKE "/private/var/*/Library/LaunchAgents/*.plist" OR file.name IN (".zshenv", ".zshrc", ".zprofile", ".zlogin", ".bashrc", ".bash_profile", ".bash_login", ".profile", "config.fish", "environment.plist") OR file.path LIKE "/Users/*/.ssh/authorized_keys" OR file.path LIKE "/private/var/root/.ssh/authorized_keys" OR file.path LIKE "/private/etc/ssh/sshd_config*" OR file.path LIKE "/private/var/at/tabs/*" OR file.path LIKE "/var/at/tabs/*" OR file.path LIKE "/private/var/root/.*/*" OR file.path LIKE "/var/root/.*/*" OR file.path LIKE "/private/var/root/.*" OR file.path LIKE "/var/root/.*" ) | KEEP _id, _index, _version, @timestamp, host.name, host.id, user.id, user.name, process.name, event.action, event.type, file.path, file.name, data_stream.namespace

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect SSFileCopyReceiver Writing to Common Persistence Locations 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(external, opens in a new tab or window).