Untrusted Disabling of macOS System Integrity Protection (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Recon
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 csrutil disable, which turns off System Integrity Protection so an attacker can modify protected system locations and load unsigned kernel code on macOS. Disabling SIP is a defense-evasion technique tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report macOS coverage. Detecting this command surfaces removal of a core macOS protection.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Microsoft Defender Critical Security Components Disabled - Command (via process_creation)

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Malicious Wdigest Authentication Enabled - Reg via Command (via process_creation)

Untrusted Disabling of macOS System Integrity Protection (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1685 · 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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