Sigma rule: Hidden User Creation

Rule

Title

Hidden User Creation

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community

Date

2020-10-10

Modified

2021-11-27

File

rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_create_hidden_account.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects creation of a hidden user account on macOS (UserID < 500) or with IsHidden option

Log source

product

macos

category

process_creation

Detection

dscl_create:
    Image|endswith: '/dscl'
    CommandLine|contains: 'create'
id_below_500:
    CommandLine|contains: UniqueID
    CommandLine|re: '([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[1-4][0-9]{2})'
ishidden_option_declaration:
    CommandLine|contains: 'IsHidden'
ishidden_option_confirmation:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'true'
        - 'yes'
        - '1'
condition: dscl_create and id_below_500 or dscl_create and (ishidden_option_declaration and ishidden_option_confirmation)

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administration activities

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1564.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1564.002

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1564.002/T1564.002.md

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_create_hidden_account.yml