MacOS Osascript Executing Interactive Shell

name: MacOS Osascript Executing Interactive Shell
id: 01168215-d1c7-4a37-8bd3-c5b64664c947
version: 1
creation_date: '2026-09-18'
modification_date: '2026-09-18'
author: Radka Viskova, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: |-
    This analytic detects the macOS osascript utility being used with an interactive Bash invocation, identified by the presence
    of "bash -i" in the command line.
    Adversaries may abuse osascript and AppleScript's shell execution capabilities to launch
    interactive shells, establish remote access, or execute post-exploitation commands.
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_name="osascript"
    Processes.process="*bash *"
    Processes.process="* -i*"

    BY Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec
        Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id
        Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path
        Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
        Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
        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_osascript_executing_interactive_shell_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: |-
    Legitimate administrative scripts, MDM workflows, software deployment tools, developer automation, or support utilities may use osascript to invoke an interactive shell.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/002/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/004/
    - https://redcanary.com/threat-detection-report/techniques/applescript/
    - https://www.loobins.io/binaries/osascript/
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: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: The Osascript utility with the command line [$process$] was observed on [$dest$] executing an interactive Bash command line.
threat_objects:
    - field: process
      type: process
analytic_story:
    - MacOS Post-Exploitation
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1059.002
    - T1059.004
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/refs/heads/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1059.002/osascript_spawns_shell_process/osascript_spawns_shell_process.log
          source: osquery
          sourcetype: osquery:results
      test_type: unit