macOS Keychain Credential Dump via security find-certificate/export and dump-keychain
Alerts on /usr/bin/security usage indicative of Keychain export/dump activity on macOS.
- Product
- macos
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- Tim Ismilyaev, oscd.community, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2020-10-19
- Updated
- 2026-07-31
ATT&CK techniques
Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule identifies macOS process executions of /usr/bin/security where the command line contains elements associated with exporting certificates and dumping keychain contents. Attackers may use these capabilities to extract stored credentials from local password stores for subsequent access. The detection relies on process creation telemetry, specifically the executable path and substring matches within the command line.
Reporting behind it
- github.comhttps://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1555.001/T1555.001.md
- gist.github.comhttps://gist.github.com/Capybara/6228955
- github.comhttps://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_creds_from_keychain.yml
Changelog
v2- v2Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v1No 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.
title: macOS Keychain Credential Dump via security find-certificate/export and dump-keychain
id: 1a2a1f67-2f37-4511-8be0-8a791e2a30c5
status: test
description: This rule identifies macOS process executions of /usr/bin/security where the command line contains elements associated with exporting certificates and dumping keychain contents. Attackers may use these capabilities to extract stored credentials from local password stores for subsequent access. The detection relies on process creation telemetry, specifically the executable path and substring matches within the command line.
references:
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1555.001/T1555.001.md
- https://gist.github.com/Capybara/6228955
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/macos/process_creation/proc_creation_macos_creds_from_keychain.yml
author: Tim Ismilyaev, oscd.community, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2020-10-19
modified: 2021-11-27
tags:
- attack.credential-access
- attack.t1555.001
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: macos
detection:
selection1:
Image: /usr/bin/security
CommandLine|contains:
- find-certificate
- " export "
selection2:
CommandLine|contains:
- " dump-keychain "
- " login-keychain "
condition: 1 of selection*
falsepositives:
- Legitimate administration activities
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
- id: b120b587-a4c2-4b94-875d-99c9807d6955
type: derived