Detection rules › Splunk
Suspicious PlistBuddy Usage
The following analytic identifies the use of the native macOS utility, PlistBuddy, to create or modify property list (.plist) files. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line executions involving PlistBuddy. This activity is significant because PlistBuddy can be used to establish persistence by modifying LaunchAgents, as seen in the Silver Sparrow malware. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to maintain persistence, execute arbitrary commands, and potentially escalate privileges on the compromised macOS system.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | T1543.001 Create or Modify System Process: Launch Agent |
| Privilege Escalation | T1543.001 Create or Modify System Process: Launch Agent |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Rule body splunk
name: Suspicious PlistBuddy Usage
id: c3194009-e0eb-4f84-87a9-4070f8688f00
version: 9
creation_date: '2021-02-25'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Michael Haag, Splunk
status: experimental
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies the use of the native macOS utility, PlistBuddy, to create or modify property list (.plist) files. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line executions involving PlistBuddy. This activity is significant because PlistBuddy can be used to establish persistence by modifying LaunchAgents, as seen in the Silver Sparrow malware. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to maintain persistence, execute arbitrary commands, and potentially escalate privileges on the compromised macOS system.
data_source:
- Sysmon EventID 1
- Windows Event Log Security 4688
- CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
search: |-
| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes
WHERE Processes.process_name=PlistBuddy (Processes.process=*LaunchAgents*
OR
Processes.process=*RunAtLoad*
OR
Processes.process=*true*)
BY Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process
Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id
Processes.parent_process_id
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `suspicious_plistbuddy_usage_filter`
how_to_implement: The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the `Processes` node of the `Endpoint` data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.
known_false_positives: Some legitimate applications may use PlistBuddy to create or modify property lists and possibly generate false positives. Review the property list being modified or created to confirm.
references:
- https://www.marcosantadev.com/manage-plist-files-plistbuddy/
finding:
title: Suspicious usage of plistbuddy on $dest$
entity:
field: user
type: user
score: 50
intermediate_findings:
entities:
- field: dest
type: system
score: 50
message: Suspicious usage of plistbuddy on $dest$
analytic_story:
- Silver Sparrow
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
- T1543.001
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
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_name=PlistBuddy (Processes.process=*LaunchAgents*
OR
Processes.process=*RunAtLoad*
OR
Processes.process=*true*)
BY Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process
Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id
Processes.parent_process_id
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
| `suspicious_plistbuddy_usage_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 |
|
Processes.process_name | eq |
|