Sigma rule: Suspicious Execution via macOS Script Editor

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-0d9771925953, updated 2022-12-28T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Execution via macOS Script Editor
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Tim Rauch (rule), Elastic (idea)
Date
2022-10-21
Modified
2022-12-28
File
rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_susp_execution_macos_script_editor.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects when the macOS Script Editor utility spawns an unusual child process.

Log source

product
macos
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_parent:
    ParentImage|endswith: '/Script Editor'
selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '/curl'
          - '/bash'
          - '/sh'
          - '/zsh'
          - '/dash'
          - '/fish'
          - '/osascript'
          - '/mktemp'
          - '/chmod'
          - '/php'
          - '/nohup'
          - '/openssl'
          - '/plutil'
          - '/PlistBuddy'
          - '/xattr'
          - '/sqlite'
          - '/funzip'
          - '/popen'
    - Image|contains:
          - 'python'
          - 'perl'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.defense-impairment
  • attack.t1566
  • attack.t1566.002
  • attack.initial-access
  • attack.t1059
  • attack.t1059.002
  • attack.t1204
  • attack.t1204.001
  • attack.execution
  • attack.persistence
  • attack.t1553

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

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_susp_execution_macos_script_editor.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Execution via macOS Script Editor" by Tim Rauch (rule), Elastic (idea) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_susp_execution_macos_script_editor.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Suspicious Execution via macOS Script Editor",
entity page, dataset version ref-0d9771925953, updated 2022-12-28T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/6e4dcdd1-e48b-42f7-b2d8-3b413fc58cb4 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 6e4dcdd1-e48b-42f7-b2d8-3b413fc58cb4, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.