Suspicious Hidden Local Account Creation via Dscl (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1136.001Local Account
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects dscl creating a user record together with hidden-account or UID attributes, a persistence technique used to add a stealthy admin account that does not appear on the macOS login window. Hidden account creation is tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report macOS coverage. Detecting this surfaces a covert local account being planted.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1136.001 — drag to rearrange

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PowerShell Local Account Creation With Self-Deleting Script

Suspicious Creation of ctxsvc Local Account via net Command

Suspicious Local Administrator Account Addition via net localgroup

Suspicious Hidden Local Account Creation via Dscl (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1136.001 · 9 related

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

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