Sigma rule: Scheduled Cron Task/Job - MacOs

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-6e53b44d0b17, updated 2022-11-27T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Scheduled Cron Task/Job - MacOs
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Alejandro Ortuno, oscd.community
Date
2020-10-06
Modified
2022-11-27
File
rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_schedule_task_job_cron.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects abuse of the cron utility to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code. Detection will focus on crontab jobs uploaded from the tmp folder.

Log source

product
macos
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '/crontab'
    CommandLine|contains: '/tmp/'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate administration activities

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.persistence
  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.t1053.003

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_schedule_task_job_cron.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Scheduled Cron Task/Job - MacOs" by Alejandro Ortuno, oscd.community (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_schedule_task_job_cron.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: Scheduled Cron Task/Job - MacOs",
entity page, dataset version ref-6e53b44d0b17, updated 2022-11-27T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/7c3b43d8-d794-47d2-800a-d277715aa460 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 7c3b43d8-d794-47d2-800a-d277715aa460, 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.