Elastic Security Detection Rules

Creation of Hidden Login Item via Apple Script

Last updated a month ago on 2025-03-18
Created 5 years ago on 2020-01-05

About

Identifies the execution of osascript to create a hidden login item. This may indicate an attempt to persist a malicious program while concealing its presence.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Boot or Logon Autostart Execution (T1547)(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)

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

↳ Plist File Modification (T1647)(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*login item*hidden:true*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Creation of Hidden Login Item via Apple 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).