Attempt to Remove File Quarantine Attribute
editAttempt to Remove File Quarantine Attribute
editIdentifies a potential Gatekeeper bypass. In macOS, when applications or programs are downloaded from the internet, there is a quarantine flag set on the file. This attribute is read by Apple’s Gatekeeper defense program at execution time. An adversary may disable this attribute to evade defenses.
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
- Defense Evasion
Version: 100 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.5.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Investigation guide
editRule query
editprocess where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.name : "xattr" and ( (process.args : "com.apple.quarantine" and process.args : ("-d", "-w")) or (process.args : "-c") or (process.command_line : ("/bin/bash -c xattr -c *", "/bin/zsh -c xattr -c *", "/bin/sh -c xattr -c *")) ) and not process.args_count > 12
Threat mapping
editFramework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
-
Technique:
- Name: Impair Defenses
- ID: T1562
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/
Rule version history
edit- Version 100 (8.5.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 6 (8.4.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.args : "xattr" and ( (process.args : "com.apple.quarantine" and process.args : ("-d", "-w")) or (process.args : "-c" and process.command_line : ( "/bin/bash -c xattr -c *", "/bin/zsh -c xattr -c *", "/bin/sh -c xattr -c *" ) ) )
-
- Version 4 (8.2.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.12.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.name == "xattr" and process.args == "com.apple.quarantine" and process.args == "-d"
-
- Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
-
- Formatting only