Name:MacOS Keychains Dumped id:dcb45a09-5e6f-441e-b2f8-cbbf923e36d9 version:3 date:2026-04-28 author:Raven Tait, Jamie Windley, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:Detects command-line attempts to access or dump macOS Keychain data using native utilities or direct file access.
This includes credential dumping via the `security` utility (e.g. `dump-keychain -d`), bulk certificate export using `security find-certificate`, and direct file copying of Keychain database files using utilities such as `cat`.
Keychain files are located in `~/Library/Keychains/`, `/Library/Keychains/`, and `/Network/Library/Keychains/`.
This technique is commonly associated with post-exploitation credential harvesting, where an attacker with local access seeks to escalate privileges or move laterally by obtaining stored credentials for applications, Wi-Fi networks, system services, and certificates. Data_source:
-Osquery Results
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(Processes.parent_process) AS parent_process values(Processes.parent_process_exec) AS parent_process_exec values(Processes.parent_process_id) AS parent_process_id values(Processes.parent_process_name) AS parent_process_name values(Processes.parent_process_path) AS parent_process_path
FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes WHERE ( Processes.process_path="/usr/bin/security" AND ( ( Processes.process="*dump-keychain*" Processes.process="*-d*" ) OR ( Processes.process="*find-certificate*" Processes.process="*-p*" ) ) ) OR Processes.process="*keychaindump*" OR ( Processes.process_name IN ( "cat", "cp", "dd", "mv" ) Processes.process="*Library/Keychains/*" Processes.process="*.keychain*" ) by Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.process Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.vendor_product
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:Administrators accessing keychain files for troubleshooting or endpoint management. References: -https://osquery.readthedocs.io/en/stable/deployment/process-auditing/ -https://gist.github.com/hfeeki/88c12f01d00534e09a84 -https://ss64.com/mac/security-keychain-settings.html -https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1555.001/T1555.001.md 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' tags: analytic_story: - 'MacOS Privilege Escalation' asset_type:Endpoint mitre_attack_id: - 'T1555.001' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' security_domain:endpoint
