splunk_escuTTP

MacOS LoginHook Persistence

Identifies attempts to configure a macOS LoginHook via the defaults utility. LoginHooks enable automatic execution of a script or program upon user login and have historically been abused for persistence. Creation or modification of this setting may indicate an attempt to establish startup execution outside standard LaunchAgent mechanisms.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1037.002

Detection Query

| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
  count min(_time) as firstTime
        max(_time) as lastTime

from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where

Processes.process = "*defaults *"
Processes.process = "*write*"
Processes.process = "*loginwindow*"
Processes.process = "*loginhook*"

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_loginhook_persistence_filter`

Author

Raven Tait, Splunk

Created

2026-04-15

Data Sources

Osquery Results

References

Tags

MacOS Post-Exploitation

Raw Content

name: MacOS LoginHook Persistence
id: a04832e7-9d1d-49b1-a684-e31bcd775c77
version: 2
date: '2026-04-15'
author: Raven Tait, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: |-
    Identifies attempts to configure a macOS LoginHook via the defaults utility. LoginHooks enable automatic execution of a script or program upon user login and have historically been abused for persistence.
    Creation or modification of this setting may indicate an attempt to establish startup execution outside standard LaunchAgent mechanisms.
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 = "*defaults *"
    Processes.process = "*write*"
    Processes.process = "*loginwindow*"
    Processes.process = "*loginhook*"

    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_loginhook_persistence_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: |-
    This method is possibly still used by legacy enterprise management scripts. Update filter macro to remove false positives.
references:
    - https://osquery.readthedocs.io/en/stable/deployment/process-auditing/
    - https://www.loobins.io/binaries/defaults/
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: Loginhook created on $dest$ by $user$ via $process$
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 50
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: process
          type: process
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - MacOS Post-Exploitation
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1037.002
    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/T1037.002/osquery_logon_scripts/osquery.log
          source: osquery
          sourcetype: osquery:results