sigmamediumHunting

Clipboard Data Collection Via Pbpaste

Detects execution of the "pbpaste" utility, which retrieves the contents of the clipboard (a.k.a. pasteboard) and writes them to the standard output (stdout). The utility is often used for creating new files with the clipboard content or for piping clipboard contents to other commands. It can also be used in shell scripts that may require clipboard content as input. Attackers can abuse this utility in order to collect data from the user clipboard, which may contain passwords or sensitive information. Use this rule to hunt for potential abuse of the utility by looking at the parent process and any potentially suspicious command line content.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1115

collectioncredential-access

Detection Query

selection:
  Image|endswith: /pbpaste
condition: selection

Author

Daniel Cortez

Created

2024-07-30

Data Sources

macosProcess Creation Events

Platforms

macos

References

Tags

attack.collectionattack.credential-accessattack.t1115detection.threat-hunting

Raw Content

title: Clipboard Data Collection Via Pbpaste
id: d8af0da1-2959-40f9-a3e4-37a6aa1228b7
status: test
description: |
    Detects execution of the "pbpaste" utility, which retrieves the contents of the clipboard (a.k.a. pasteboard) and writes them to the standard output (stdout).
    The utility is often used for creating new files with the clipboard content or for piping clipboard contents to other commands.
    It can also be used in shell scripts that may require clipboard content as input.
    Attackers can abuse this utility in order to collect data from the user clipboard, which may contain passwords or sensitive information.
    Use this rule to hunt for potential abuse of the utility by looking at the parent process and any potentially suspicious command line content.
references:
    - https://www.loobins.io/binaries/pbpaste/
    - https://medium.com/@NullByteWht/hacking-macos-how-to-dump-1password-keepassx-lastpass-passwords-in-plaintext-723c5b1c311b
    - https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/19/2002805003/-1/-1/1/CSA_CHINESE_STATE-SPONSORED_CYBER_TTPS.PDF
author: Daniel Cortez
date: 2024-07-30
tags:
    - attack.collection
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.t1115
    - detection.threat-hunting
logsource:
    product: macos
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/pbpaste'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administration activities
level: medium