ClickFix macOS Payload Retrieval via curl Insecure Flags Piped to Shell (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.004Unix Shell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1105Ingress Tool Transfer
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the macOS ClickFix chain where curl downloads a payload with insecure combined flags and pipes it directly into a shell for execution. Adversaries leverage the kfsSL flag bundle to silently bypass TLS validation and follow redirects before running the fetched script, making the curl-piped-to-shell pattern a high-confidence execution indicator.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.004 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Remote Script Piped Directly to a Shell (via process_creation)

HamsaUpdate Linux Payload Download via Wget Piped to Bash (via process_creation)

Malicious Curl to Shell Dropper from Paste Site via Command Line

Malicious kagent RAT Delivery via HuggingFace Space Download (via process_creation)

Suspicious Remote Script Execution via curl Piped to bash with nohup on macOS (via process_creation)

Suspicious Botnet Payload Drop to Hidden Xdiag Temp Path

Malicious Remote Payload Piped to Shell via wget on PAN-OS

Suspicious Remote Script Downloaded via curl and Piped to Shell (via process_creation)

Suspicious File Download to tmp and Quarantine Removal via curl and xattr

ClickFix macOS Payload Retrieval via curl Insecure Flags Piped to Shell (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1059.004 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →