Attempt to Enable the Root Account

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Identifies attempts to enable the root account using the dsenableroot command. This command may be abused by adversaries for persistence, as the root account is disabled by default.

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:

Tags:

  • Domain: Endpoint
  • OS: macOS
  • Use Case: Threat Detection
  • Tactic: Persistence

Version: 103

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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event.category:process and host.os.type:macos and event.type:(start or process_started) and
 process.name:dsenableroot and not process.args:"-d"

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM