Modification of Safari Settings via Defaults Command

Identifies changes to the Safari configuration using the built-in defaults command. Adversaries may attempt to enable or disable certain Safari settings, such as enabling JavaScript from Apple Events to ease in the hijacking of the users browser.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

auditbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://objectivebythesea.com/v2/talks/OBTS_v2_Zohar.pdf

Tags:

Elastic
Host
macOS
Threat Detection
Defense Evasion

Version: 101

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

event.category:process and event.type:start and
  process.name:defaults and process.args:
    (com.apple.Safari and write and not
      (
      UniversalSearchEnabled or
      SuppressSearchSuggestions or
      WebKitTabToLinksPreferenceKey or
      ShowFullURLInSmartSearchField or
      com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2TabsToLinks
      )
    )

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Impair Defenses
- ID: T1562
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Disable or Modify Tools
- ID: T1562.001
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/001/

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