Apple Scripting Execution with Administrator Privileges

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-18
Created 5 years ago on 2020-12-27

About

Identifies execution of the Apple script interpreter (osascript) without a password prompt and with administrator privileges.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: Privilege EscalationData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(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.process*
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 == "osascript" and
 process.command_line : "osascript*with administrator privileges" and
 ((process.parent.code_signature.trusted == false or process.parent.code_signature.exists == false) or process.Ext.effective_parent.executable like ("/tmp/*", "/private/tmp/*", "/Users/Shared/*"))

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Apple Scripting Execution with Administrator Privileges 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).