Sigma rule: New File Exclusion Added To Time Machine Via Tmutil - MacOS
A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-489d87e42cf9, updated 2024-05-29T00:00:00.000Z.
Rule
- Title
- New File Exclusion Added To Time Machine Via Tmutil - MacOS
- Status
- test
- Level
- medium
- Author
- Pratinav Chandra
- Date
- 2024-05-29
- File
- rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_tmutil_exclude_file_from_backup.yml
- Commit
- ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84
Detects the addition of a new file or path exclusion to MacOS Time Machine via the "tmutil" utility.
An adversary could exclude a path from Time Machine backups to prevent certain files from being backed up.
Log source
- product
- macos
- category
- process_creation
Detection
selection_img:
- Image|endswith: '/tmutil'
- CommandLine|contains: 'tmutil'
selection_cmd:
CommandLine|contains: 'addexclusion'
condition: all of selection_*False positives (as the rule lists them)
- Legitimate administrator activity
Tags
- attack.impact
- attack.t1490
MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names
References
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1490/T1490.md#atomic-test-12---disable-time-machine
- https://www.loobins.io/binaries/tmutil/
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_tmutil_exclude_file_from_backup.yml
Sources and licences
SigmaHQ
"New File Exclusion Added To Time Machine Via Tmutil - MacOS" by Pratinav Chandra (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_tmutil_exclude_file_from_backup.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Cite this page
Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: New File Exclusion Added To Time Machine Via Tmutil - MacOS",
entity page, dataset version ref-489d87e42cf9, updated 2024-05-29T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/9acf45ed-3a26-4062-bf08-56857613eb52 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 9acf45ed-3a26-4062-bf08-56857613eb52, 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.