sigmamediumHunting

User Added To Admin Group Via DseditGroup

Detects attempts to create and/or add an account to the admin group, thus granting admin privileges.

MITRE ATT&CK

persistencedefense-evasioninitial-accessprivilege-escalation

Detection Query

selection:
  Image|endswith: /dseditgroup
  CommandLine|contains|all:
    - " -o edit "
    - " -a "
    - " -t user"
    - admin
condition: selection

Author

Sohan G (D4rkCiph3r)

Created

2023-08-22

Data Sources

macosProcess Creation Events

Platforms

macos

References

Tags

attack.persistenceattack.defense-evasionattack.initial-accessattack.privilege-escalationattack.t1078.003

Raw Content

title: User Added To Admin Group Via DseditGroup
id: 5d0fdb62-f225-42fb-8402-3dfe64da468a
status: test
description: Detects attempts to create and/or add an account to the admin group, thus granting admin privileges.
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1078.003/T1078.003.md#atomic-test-5---add-a-newexisting-user-to-the-admin-group-using-dseditgroup-utility---macos
    - https://ss64.com/osx/dseditgroup.html
author: Sohan G (D4rkCiph3r)
date: 2023-08-22
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.initial-access
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.t1078.003
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: macos
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/dseditgroup'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ' -o edit ' # edit operation
            - ' -a ' # username
            - ' -t user'
            - 'admin' # Group name
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administration activities
level: medium