Elastic Security Detection Rules

Persistence via a Hidden Plist Filename

Last updated a month ago on 2026-01-30
Created a month ago on 2026-01-30

About

Identifies the creation of a hidden launch agent or daemon property list file. An adversary may establish persistence by installing a new launch agent or daemon which executes at login. Hidden plist files with filenames starting with a dot are particularly suspicious.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Boot or Logon Autostart Execution (T1547)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Create or Modify System Process (T1543)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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

↳ Hide Artifacts (T1564)(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.file-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
file where host.os.type == "macos" and event.type != "deletion" and
  file.path like~ (
    "/System/Library/LaunchAgents/.*.plist",
    "/Library/LaunchAgents/.*.plist",
    "/Users/*/Library/LaunchAgents/.*.plist",
    "/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/.*.plist",
    "/Library/LaunchDaemons/.*.plist"
  ) and
  not (file.name like ".chef-com*.plist" and process.executable like "/opt/chef/embedded/bin/ruby") and
  not (process.executable in ("/usr/bin/sed", "/bin/bash") and file.name like ".!*!*.plist")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Persistence via a Hidden Plist Filename 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).