TCC Bypass via Mounted APFS Snapshot Access

Last updated 9 months ago on 2025-03-18

Created 6 years ago on 2020-01-04

About

Identifies the use of the mount_apfs command to mount the entire file system through Apple File System (APFS) snapshots as read-only and with the noowners flag set. This action enables the adversary to access almost any file in the file system, including all user data and files protected by Apple’s privacy framework (TCC).

Tags

Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionUse Case: VulnerabilityData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql

Severity

high

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Direct Volume Access (T1006)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License

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

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗process where host.os.type == "macos" and event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.name == "mount_apfs" and
 process.args like~ "/System/Volumes/Data" and process.args like~ "noowners"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect TCC Bypass via Mounted APFS Snapshot Access 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).