Attempt to Unload Elastic Endpoint Security Kernel Extension

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-18
Created 6 years ago on 2020-01-05

About

Identifies attempts to unload the Elastic Endpoint Security kernel extension via the kextunload command.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

Persistence (TA0003)(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 == "kextunload" and process.args like~ ("/System/Library/Extensions/EndpointSecurity.kext", "EndpointSecurity.kext")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Attempt to Unload Elastic Endpoint Security Kernel Extension 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).