Sigma rule: Root Account Enable Via Dsenableroot

Rule

Title

Root Account Enable Via Dsenableroot

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Sohan G (D4rkCiph3r)

Date

2023-08-22

File

rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_dsenableroot_enable_root_account.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects attempts to enable the root account via "dsenableroot"

Log source

product

macos

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '/dsenableroot'
filter_main_disable:
    CommandLine|contains: ' -d '
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1078
• attack.t1078.001
• attack.t1078.003
• attack.initial-access
• attack.persistence

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1078
• T1078.001
• T1078.003

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/b27a3cb25025161d49ac861cb216db68c46a3537/atomics/T1078.003/T1078.003.md
• https://github.com/elastic/detection-rules/blob/4312d8c9583be524578a14fe6295c3370b9a9307/rules/macos/persistence_enable_root_account.toml
• https://ss64.com/osx/dsenableroot.html

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_dsenableroot_enable_root_account.yml