Potential Privacy Control Bypass via TCCDB Modification

Elastic Stack Serverless Security

Identifies the use of sqlite3 to directly modify the Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) SQLite database. This may indicate an attempt to bypass macOS privacy controls, including access to sensitive resources like the system camera, microphone, address book, and calendar.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

• auditbeat-*
• logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/common-options.html#date-math[Date Math format], see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

• https://applehelpwriter.com/2016/08/29/discovering-how-dropbox-hacks-your-mac/
• https://github.com/bp88/JSS-Scripts/blob/master/TCC.db%20Modifier.sh
• https://medium.com/@mattshockl/cve-2020-9934-bypassing-the-os-x-transparency-consent-and-control-tcc-framework-for-4e14806f1de8

Tags:

• Elastic
• Host
• macOS
• Threat Detection
• Defense Evasion

Version: 101

Rule authors:

• Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.name : "sqlite*" and
 process.args : "/*/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db" and
 not process.parent.executable : "/Library/Bitdefender/AVP/product/bin/*"

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

• 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/