Elastic Security Detection Rules

Persistence via Folder Action Script

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-18
Created 5 years ago on 2020-12-07

About

Detects modification of a Folder Action script. A Folder Action script is executed when the folder to which it is attached has items added or removed, or when its window is opened, closed, moved, or resized. Adversaries may abuse this feature to establish persistence by utilizing a malicious script.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Boot or Logon Initialization Scripts (T1037)(opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(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.parent.name == "com.apple.foundation.UserScriptService" and 
 ((process.name like~ ("osascript", "python*", "tcl*", "node", "perl", "ruby", "php")) or 
  (process.name in ("bash", "csh", "zsh", "sh") and process.args == "-c")) and 
 not process.args like ("/Users/*/Library/Scripts/*", "/Users/*/Library/Application Scripts/*", "/Library/Scripts/*")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Persistence via Folder Action Script 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).