macOS SIP Status Enumeration via csrutil status

Flags execution of "csrutil status" on macOS to enumerate System Integrity Protection state.

FreeReviewedSigma · Low · v2

Product: macos
Category: process_creation
Author: Joseliyo Sanchez, @Joseliyo_Jstnk (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2024-01-02
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1518.001Security Software Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags process executions of /csrutil with the argument indicating “status”, which enumerates the current System Integrity Protection (SIP) state. Attackers often perform this post-exploitation check to understand available security restrictions before attempting further actions. It relies on macOS process creation telemetry capturing the executable path and command-line arguments.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1518.001 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Security Process Enumeration via Tasklist And Findstr

Suspicious Security Software Enumeration on macOS

macOS csrutil Used to Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)

Windows Process Execution of findstr.EXE for Security Tool Keyword Filtering

macOS SIP Status Enumeration via csrutil status

Pivot detection · T1518.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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

macos-csrutil-sip-status-enumeration-via-process-command-line-53821412

title: macOS SIP Status Enumeration via csrutil status
id: 5a4c79c5-28aa-42a8-ad08-f6044b61b5b4
status: test
description: This rule flags process executions of /csrutil with the argument indicating “status”, which enumerates the current System Integrity Protection (SIP) state. Attackers often perform this post-exploitation check to understand available security restrictions before attempting further actions. It relies on macOS process creation telemetry capturing the executable path and command-line arguments.
references:
  - https://ss64.com/osx/csrutil.html
  - https://objective-see.org/blog/blog_0x6D.html
  - https://www.welivesecurity.com/2017/10/20/osx-proton-supply-chain-attack-elmedia/
  - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/05a2adb266ec6c0ba9ed176d87d8530e71e845348c13caf9f60049760c312cd3/behavior
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_csrutil_status.yml
author: Joseliyo Sanchez, @Joseliyo_Jstnk, Huntrule Team
date: 2024-01-02
tags:
  - attack.discovery
  - attack.t1518.001
logsource:
  product: macos
  category: process_creation
detection:
  selection:
    Image|endswith: /csrutil
    CommandLine|contains: status
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate administration activities
level: low
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 53821412-17b0-4147-ade0-14faae67d54b
    type: derived

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