Suspicious Removal of the macOS Quarantine Attribute via Xattr (via process_creation)
- Product
- macos
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-09-03
- Updated
- 2026-09-03
ATT&CK techniques
Defense EvasionRecon
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 xattr being used to strip the com.apple.quarantine attribute from a file, which bypasses the Gatekeeper prompt so a downloaded binary launches without the trust warning. Quarantine-attribute removal is a defense-evasion technique in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report macOS coverage. Detecting it surfaces an attempt to silently run downloaded content.
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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