macOS Configuration Profile Installation

Status: experimental
Severity: medium
Log source: product macos, service endpointsecurity
Author: Eric Brown - Nebulock, Inc.
Source: github.com/Nebulock-Inc/macos-coresigma

Detects installation of configuration profiles which can be used for persistence, privilege escalation, or to modify system security settings. Malicious profiles can disable security features, install certificates, or configure system settings.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1547` Boot or Logon Autostart Execution, `T1556` Modify Authentication Process

Rule body yaml

title: macOS Configuration Profile Installation
id: e429564d-e697-4ecc-8996-504474e414f4
status: experimental
description: 'Detects installation of configuration profiles which can be used for
  persistence,

  privilege escalation, or to modify system security settings. Malicious profiles

  can disable security features, install certificates, or configure system settings.

  '
author: Eric Brown - Nebulock, Inc.
date: 2025/10/31
modified: 2025/10/31
references:
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1556/
logsource:
  product: macos
  service: endpointsecurity
detection:
  selection_event:
    esf.event_type:
    - 126  # ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_PROFILE_ADD
    - 127  # ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_PROFILE_REMOVE
  selection_root:
    UserId: 0
  condition: selection_event and not selection_root
falsepositives:
- MDM (Mobile Device Management) profile installations
- IT-managed configuration profiles
- Legitimate user-installed profiles
- VPN and network configuration profiles
fields:
- event_type
- event_name
- User
- profile_identifier
- profile_uuid
tags:
- attack.persistence
- attack.t1547
- attack.t1556
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection_event and not selection_root

Stage 1: `selection_event`

selection_event:
  esf.event_type:
  - 126
  - 127

Stage 2: `not selection_root`

selection_root:
  UserId: 0

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`UserId`	eq	`0`

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`esf.event_type`	eq	`126` `127`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

macOS Configuration Profile Installation

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_event`

Stage 2: `not selection_root`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

macOS Configuration Profile Installation

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_event

Stage 2: not selection_root

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_event`

Stage 2: `not selection_root`