Detection: MacOS Osascript Displaying Suspicious User Prompt

Updated Date: 2026-08-31 ID: d565ae18-7db6-460c-a2eb-a7109f18bc5e Author: Radka Viskova, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of the macOS osascript utility with AppleScript commands that display a dialog or alert containing potentially deceptive, credential-related, or security-themed content. Adversaries may abuse osascript to present fake system messages or credential prompts and trick users into disclosing sensitive information. This detection is based on command-line content and should be reviewed with the parent process, executing user, script content, and surrounding endpoint activity.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
 3  count min(_time) as firstTime
 4        max(_time) as lastTime
 5
 6FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes WHERE
 7
 8Processes.process_name="osascript"
 9Processes.process IN (
10    "*display alert*",
11    "*display dialog*"
12)
13Processes.process IN (
14    "*access System*",
15    "*authentication*",
16    "*credentials*",
17    "*critical update*",
18    "*needs your attention*",
19    "*password*",
20    "*security update*",
21    "*system error*",
22    "*verify*",
23    "*with hidden answer*"
24)
25
26BY Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
27   Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
28   Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
29   Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
30   Processes.process_path Processes.user
31   Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
32
33
34| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
35
36| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
37
38| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
39
40| `macos_osascript_displaying_suspicious_user_prompt_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_osascript_displaying_suspicious_user_prompt_filter	`search *`

macos_osascript_displaying_suspicious_user_prompt_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
T1056.002	GUI Input Capture	Collection
T1059.002	AppleScript	Credential Access

Exploitation

Installation

DE.AE

CIS 10

RedCurl

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 Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

Anomaly detections generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events). They do not generate a Finding (Notable) directly.

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

Legitimate administrative, MDM, software deployment, support, or automation scripts may use osascript to display dialogs or alerts. Review the parent process, executing user, script content, signer, and known administrative tooling before suppressing the activity.

Associated Analytic Story

MacOS Privilege Escalation

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
The osascript utility executed a command containing dialog-related and potentially deceptive content on endpoint [$dest$] with the Command Line [$process$].	dest	system	20

Threat Objects

Field	Type
process	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: 1