Sub-technique of T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter.View on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution. AppleScript is a macOS scripting language designed to control applications and parts of the OS via inter-application messages called AppleEvents. These AppleEvent messages can be sent independently or easily scripted with AppleScript. These events can locate open windows, send keystrokes, and interact with almost any open application locally or remotely.
Scripts can be run from the command-line via osascript /path/to/script or osascript -e "script here". Aside from the command line, scripts can be executed in numerous ways including Mail rules, Calendar.app alarms, and Automator workflows. AppleScripts can also be executed as plain text shell scripts by adding #!/usr/bin/osascript to the start of the script file.
AppleScripts do not need to call osascript to execute. However, they may be executed from within mach-O binaries by using the macOS Native APIs NSAppleScript or OSAScript, both of which execute code independent of the /usr/bin/osascript command line utility.
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript to execute various behaviors, such as interacting with an open SSH connection, moving to remote machines, and even presenting users with fake dialog boxes. These events cannot start applications remotely (they can start them locally), but they can interact with applications if they're already running remotely. On macOS 10.10 Yosemite and higher, AppleScript has the ability to execute Native APIs, which otherwise would require compilation and execution in a mach-O binary file format. Since this is a scripting language, it can be used to launch more common techniques as well such as a reverse shell via Python.
Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1059.002.
| Rule | Level | Log source |
|---|---|---|
| JXA In-memory Execution Via OSAScript | high | macos / process_creation |
| OSACompile Run-Only Execution | high | macos / process_creation |
| Suspicious Microsoft Office Child Process - MacOS | high | macos / process_creation |
| Clipboard Access Via OSAScript | medium | macos / process_creation |
| MacOS Scripting Interpreter AppleScript | medium | macos / process_creation |
| Osacompile Execution By Potentially Suspicious Applet/Osascript | medium | macos / process_creation |
| Suspicious Execution via macOS Script Editor | medium | macos / process_creation |
| Rule | Type | Risk | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco NVM - Osascript Network Connection for a Long Duration | Anomaly | NULL | Cisco Network Visibility Module Flow Data |
| MacOS AMOS Stealer - Virtual Machine Check Activity | Anomaly | NULL | Osquery Results |
| MacOS AppleScript Shell Execution and Compilation | Anomaly | NULL | Osquery Results |
| MacOS Osascript Displaying Suspicious User Prompt | Anomaly | NULL | Osquery Results |
| MacOS Osascript Executing Interactive Shell | Anomaly | NULL | Osquery Results |
| MacOS Osascript Executing JavaScript Code With ObjC | Anomaly | NULL | Osquery Results |
None recorded.
None recorded.
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| MalwareBundlore | Bundlore can use AppleScript to inject malicious JavaScript into a browser. |
| MalwareCuckoo Stealer | Cuckoo Stealer can use osascript to generate a password-stealing prompt, duplicate files and folders, and set environmental variables. |
| MalwareDok | Dok uses AppleScript to create a login item for persistence. |
| MalwareGlassWorm | GlassWorm has utilized AppleScript to include `set keychainPassword to do shell script` to execute shell command that retrieves passwords from the macOS keychain. |
| MalwaremacOS.OSAMiner | macOS.OSAMiner has used `osascript` to call itself via the `do shell script` command in the Launch Agent `.plist` file. |
| MalwareThiefQuest | ThiefQuest uses AppleScript's |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
