Shell Execution via Apple Scripting

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.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

auditbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

Elastic
Host
macOS
Threat Detection
Execution

Version: 3 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.14.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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sequence by host.id with maxspan=5s [process where event.type in
("start", "process_started", "info") and process.name == "osascript"]
by process.pid [process where event.type in ("start",
"process_started") and process.name == "sh" and process.args == "-c"]
by process.parent.pid

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Execution
- ID: TA0002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
Technique:
- Name: Command and Scripting Interpreter
- ID: T1059
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/

Rule version history

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Version 3 (7.14.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by host.id with maxspan=5s [process where event.type in
("start", "process_started", "info") and process.name == "osascript"]
by process.pid [process where event.type in ("start",
"process_started") and process.name == "sh" and process.args == "-c"]
by process.ppid

Version 2 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

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