Suspicious Curl Execution via Automator Workflow


Description

Detects Automator spawning shell interpreters to execute curl with file output arguments within 10 seconds. This indicates abuse of trusted Automator workflows for malicious file downloads.

Query · eql

sequence with maxspan=10s
[process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.name in ("bash", "zsh", "sh") and process.args == "-c" and process.parent.name == "Automator"] by process.entity_id
[process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.name in ("curl", "nscurl") and process.args in ("-o", "--output", "-O", "--remote-name")] by process.parent.entity_id
Raw source Suspicious Curl Execution via Automator Workflow · Elastic TOML
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Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Detects Automator spawning shell interpreters to execute curl with file output arguments within 10 seconds. This
indicates abuse of trusted Automator workflows for malicious file downloads.
"""
id = "45d8fbd2-f441-4d0b-a575-613591d45738"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Suspicious Curl Execution via Automator Workflow"
os_list = ["macos"]
version = "1.0.3"

query = '''
sequence with maxspan=10s
[process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.name in ("bash", "zsh", "sh") and process.args == "-c" and process.parent.name == "Automator"] by process.entity_id
[process where event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and process.name in ("curl", "nscurl") and process.args in ("-o", "--output", "-O", "--remote-name")] by process.parent.entity_id
'''

min_endpoint_version = "8.16.0"
optional_actions = []
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1059"
name = "Command and Scripting Interpreter"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1059.004"
name = "Unix Shell"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/004/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1105"
name = "Ingress Tool Transfer"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1105/"


[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0011"
name = "Command and Control"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "8.16.0"

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