Possible System Information Enumeration Via Ioreg (via process_creation)

title: Possible System Information Enumeration Via Ioreg (via process_creation)
id: 2bf35c92-4205-5571-885d-bc1a212d849a
status: stable
description: This rule detects the use of "ioreg" which will show I/O Kit registry information. This process is used for system information discovery. It has been observed in-the-wild by calling this process directly or using bash and grep to look for specific strings.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1082/
    - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/0373d78db6c3c0f6f6dcc409821bf89e1ad8c165d6f95c5c80ecdce2219627d7/behavior
    - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/4ffdc72d1ff1ee8228e31691020fc275afd1baee5a985403a71ca8c7bd36e2e4/behavior
    - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/5907d59ec1303cfb5c0a0f4aaca3efc0830707d86c732ba6b9e842b5730b95dc/behavior
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/en_ph/research/20/k/new-macos-backdoor-connected-to-oceanlotus-surfaces.html
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-03-22
tags:
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.t1082
logsource:
    product: macos
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '/ioreg'
        - CommandLine|contains: 'ioreg'
    selection_cmd1:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '-l'
            - '-c'
    selection_cmd2:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'AppleAHCIDiskDriver'
            - 'IOPlatformExpertDevice'
            - 'Oracle'
            - 'Parallels'
            - 'USB Vendor Name'
            - 'VirtualBox'
            - 'VMware'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium