Detection: MacOS Hidden Files and Directories

Updated Date: 2026-04-15 ID: 51c43b7b-e406-45d2-9bad-5c67f07e6528 Author: Raven Tait, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects suspicious creation of hidden files and directories, which may indicate an attacker's attempt to conceal malicious activities or unauthorized data. Hidden files and directories are often used to evade detection by security tools and administrators, providing a stealthy means for storing malware, logs, or sensitive information. By monitoring for unusual or unauthorized creation of hidden files and directories, this analytic helps identify potential attempts to hide or unauthorized creation of hidden files and directories, and helps identify potential attempts to hide malicious operations, enabling security teams to uncover and address hidden threats effectively.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
 3
 4(
 5    Processes.process="*chflags *"
 6    Processes.process="* hidden*"
 7)
 8OR
 9(
10    Processes.process="*xattr *"
11    Processes.process="* -wx *"
12    Processes.process="*com.apple.FinderInfo*"
13)
14
15by Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
16   Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
17   Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
18   Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
19   Processes.process_path Processes.user
20   Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
21
22
23| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
24
25| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
26
27| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
28
29| `macos_hidden_files_and_directories_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Osquery Results	Other	`'osquery:results'`	`'osquery'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
macos_hidden_files_and_directories_filter	`search *`

macos_hidden_files_and_directories_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1564.001	Hidden Files and Directories	Defense Evasion

Exploitation

DE.AE

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

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 must be deployed across your indexers and universal forwarders in order to have the osquery data populate the data models.

Known False Positives

Power users or developers utilizing build tools or CI/CD tools could trigger this activity.

Associated Analytic Story

MacOS Persistence Techniques

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Attempt to hide files on $dest$ by $user$ via $process$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	20	process
user	user	20	process

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`osquery`	`osquery:results`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`osquery`	`osquery:results`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 2