Suspicious macOS Keychain Credential Dump via security Utility (via process_creation)
- Product
- macos
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-05-28
- Updated
- 2026-08-28
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 detects the macOS security command being used to dump keychain contents with the dump-keychain switch and the decrypt flag. Attackers abuse this built-in utility to extract stored passwords and secrets from the user keychain. Requesting a decrypted dump of all keychain items is a hallmark of credential theft on macOS.
Reporting behind it
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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