Modification of Safari Settings via Defaults Command

Elastic Stack Serverless Security

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 (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://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

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&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/