Sigma rule: MacOS Scripting Interpreter AppleScript

Rule

Title

MacOS Scripting Interpreter AppleScript

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Alejandro Ortuno, oscd.community

Date

2020-10-21

Modified

2026-05-21

File

rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_applescript.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of AppleScript of the macOS scripting language AppleScript.

Log source

product

macos

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '/osascript'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' -e '
        - '.scpt'
        - '.js'
filter_optional_opencode:
    # OpenCode uses osascript to handle copying text from the TUI on MacOS devices. See https://github.com/anomalyco/opencode/blob/ca723f1cbc6fc4244ae57e61e9de8c4e37380ed4/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/util/clipboard.ts#L65 for reference.
    ParentImage|endswith: 'opencode'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'osascript'
        - ' -e '
        - 'set imageData to the clipboard'
        - 'set fileRef'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_optional_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Application installers might contain scripts as part of the installation process.

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.t1059.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1059.002

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1059.002/T1059.002.md
• https://redcanary.com/blog/applescript/

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_applescript.yml