Detection rules › Splunk
MacOS Gatekeeper Bypass
Detects known MacOS security bypass techniques that may be used to enable malicious code execution. Specifically monitors for attempts to remove the com.apple.quarantine attribute using xattr, or to disable Gatekeeper protections via spctl --master-disable, both of which can allow untrusted or malicious applications to execute without standard system safeguards.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Defense Impairment | T1553.001 Subvert Trust Controls: Gatekeeper Bypass |
Rule body splunk
name: MacOS Gatekeeper Bypass
id: 2c9346f3-bbeb-48ce-8411-fc13d09d83a5
version: 3
creation_date: '2026-04-14'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Raven Tait, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: |-
Detects known MacOS security bypass techniques that may be used to enable malicious code execution.
Specifically monitors for attempts to remove the com.apple.quarantine attribute using xattr, or to disable Gatekeeper protections via spctl --master-disable, both of which can allow untrusted or malicious applications to execute without standard system safeguards.
data_source:
- Osquery Results
search: |-
| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
count min(_time) as firstTime
max(_time) as lastTime
from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
(
Processes.process = "*xattr*"
Processes.process = "*com.apple.quarantine*"
)
OR
(
Processes.process = "*spctl*"
Processes.process = "*master-disable*"
)
by Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
Processes.process_path Processes.user
Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `macos_gatekeeper_bypass_filter`
how_to_implement: |-
This detection uses osquery and endpoint security on MacOS. Follow the link in references, which describes how to setup process auditing in MacOS with endpoint security and osquery.
Also the [TA-OSquery](https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/8574) must be deployed across your indexers and universal forwarders in order to have the osquery data populate the data models.
known_false_positives: |-
Administrators or power users may need to disable Gatekeeper to install unsigned tools.
references:
- https://osquery.readthedocs.io/en/stable/deployment/process-auditing/
- https://ss64.com/mac/xattr.html
- https://ss64.com/mac/spctl.html
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
intermediate_findings:
entities:
- field: user
type: user
score: 20
message: Attempt to bypass gatekeeper protections on $dest$ by $user$ via $process$
- field: dest
type: system
score: 20
message: Attempt to bypass gatekeeper protections on $dest$ by $user$ via $process$
threat_objects:
- field: process
type: process
analytic_story:
- MacOS Privilege Escalation
- MacOS Post-Exploitation
- MacOS Persistence Techniques
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
- T1553.001
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1553.001/osquery_gatekeeper/osquery.log
source: osquery
sourcetype: osquery:results
test_type: unit
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: tstats
| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
count min(_time) as firstTime
max(_time) as lastTime
from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
(
Processes.process = "*xattr*"
Processes.process = "*com.apple.quarantine*"
)
OR
(
Processes.process = "*spctl*"
Processes.process = "*master-disable*"
)
by Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
Processes.process_path Processes.user
Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
Stage 2: search
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
Stage 3: search
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
Stage 4: search
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
Stage 5: search
| `macos_gatekeeper_bypass_filter`
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 |
|---|---|---|
Processes.process | eq |
|