Shell Execution via Apple Scripting

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

About

Identifies the execution of the shell process (sh) via scripting (JXA or AppleScript). Adversaries may use the doShellScript functionality in JXA or do shell script in AppleScript to execute system commands.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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
sequence by host.id with maxspan=10s
 [process where host.os.type == "macos" and event.type in ("start", "process_started") and event.action == "exec" and process.name == "osascript" and process.args == "-e"] by process.entity_id
 [process where host.os.type == "macos" and event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.name in ("sh", "bash", "zsh") and process.args == "-c" and process.command_line : ("*curl*", "*pbpaste*", "*http*", "*chmod*", "*nscurl*")] by process.parent.entity_id

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Shell Execution via Apple Scripting 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).