macOS Atomic Stealer FileGrabber and curl POST to exfiltrate /tmp/out.zip

Alert on macOS command lines showing FileGrabber from /tmp or curl POST exfiltration with /tmp/out.zip.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v5
Product
macos
Category
process_creation
Author
Jason Phang Vern - Onn, Robbin Ooi Zhen Heng (Gen Digital) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2025-11-22
Updated
2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Execution
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags macOS process creation events associated with data exfiltration behavior: execution of FileGrabber with a /tmp target, or curl-based POST requests carrying specific headers and an attachment of /tmp/out.zip. Attackers commonly use these patterns to package local files and transmit them to remote infrastructure. The detection relies on process command-line telemetry and string matching for the FileGrabber invocation and the expected curl POST structure.

Related detections9 linkedT1059.002 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Osascript Requesting Administrator Privileges (via process_creation)
Malicious Remote Script Piped to a Shell on macOS (via process_creation)
AppleScript do-shell-script Abuse via Osascript (via process_creation)
Suspicious AppleScript Payload Execution via osascript (macOS)
Suspicious AppleScript Execution Spawning a Shell via Osascript
Suspicious osascript Execution of Encoded AppleScript on macOS (via process_creation)
Suspicious Credential Prompt Phishing via osascript (via process_creation)
Malicious ClickFix Stager Piping curl Output to osascript
Suspicious Shell Execution Referencing Mounted DMG Volume via Terminal (macOS)
macOS Atomic Stealer FileGrabber and curl POST to exfiltrate /tmp/out.zip
Pivot detection · T1059.002 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
  1. v5
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v4
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  3. v3
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  4. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  5. 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.