splunk_escuAnomaly

MacOS Account Created

The following analytic detects the creation of a new local user account on a MacOS system. It leverages osquery logs to identify this activity. Monitoring the creation of local accounts is crucial for a SOC as it can indicate unauthorized access or lateral movement within the network. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to establish persistence, escalate privileges, or gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems and data.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1136

Detection Query

| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
  count min(_time) as firstTime
        max(_time) as lastTime
from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where

(
    Processes.process = "*sysadminctl"
    Processes.process = "*-addUser*"
)
OR
(
    Processes.process = "*createhomedir*"
    Processes.process = "*-u*"
)
OR
(
    Processes.process = "*dseditgroup*"
    Processes.process IN (
        "*edit*",
        "*-a*"
        )
)
OR
(
    Processes.process = "*dscl*"
    Processes.process = "*-create*"
)

by Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
   Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
   Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
   Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
   Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id
   Processes.vendor_product

| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `macos_account_created_filter`

Author

Raven Tait, Splunk

Created

2026-04-15

Data Sources

Osquery Results

References

Tags

MacOS Persistence Techniques

Raw Content

name: MacOS Account Created
id: 491004ae-694f-453e-b1e0-fc1e65daeea1
version: 2
date: '2026-04-15'
author: Raven Tait, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: |-
    The following analytic detects the creation of a new local user account on a MacOS system. It leverages osquery logs to identify this activity.
    Monitoring the creation of local accounts is crucial for a SOC as it can indicate unauthorized access or lateral movement within the network.
    If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to establish persistence, escalate privileges, or gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems and data.
data_source:
    - Osquery Results
search: |-
    | tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
      count min(_time) as firstTime
            max(_time) as lastTime
    from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where

    (
        Processes.process = "*sysadminctl"
        Processes.process = "*-addUser*"
    )
    OR
    (
        Processes.process = "*createhomedir*"
        Processes.process = "*-u*"
    )
    OR
    (
        Processes.process = "*dseditgroup*"
        Processes.process IN (
            "*edit*",
            "*-a*"
            )
    )
    OR
    (
        Processes.process = "*dscl*"
        Processes.process = "*-create*"
    )

    by Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
       Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
       Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
       Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
       Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id
       Processes.vendor_product

    | `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `macos_account_created_filter`
how_to_implement: |-
    This detection uses osquery and endpoint security on MacOS. Follow the link in references, which describes how to setup process auditing in MacOS with endpoint security and osquery.
    Also the [TA-OSquery](https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/8574) must be deployed across your indexers and universal forwarders in order to have the osquery data populate the data models.
known_false_positives: |-
    Creating new accounts after initial endpoint management should be rare in most environments. Investigate and tune as needed.
references:
    - https://osquery.readthedocs.io/en/stable/deployment/process-auditing/
    - https://ss64.com/mac/sysadminctl.html
    - https://ss64.com/mac/dseditgroup.html
    - https://ss64.com/mac/dscl.html
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
rba:
    message: New local account created on $dest$ by $user$ via $process$
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
    threat_objects:
        - field: process
          type: process
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - MacOS Persistence Techniques
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1136
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1136/osquery_account_creation/osquery.log
          source: osquery
          sourcetype: osquery:results