Detection: Osquery pack - ColdRoot detection

REMOVED DETECTION

This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.

Reason: Detection deprecated as it no longer effectively identifies the intended malicious activity

Removed in version: 5.2.0

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: a6fffe5e-05c3-4c04-badc-887607fbb8dc Author: Rico Valdez, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

This search looks for ColdRoot events from the osx-attacks osquery pack.

Search

1
2| from datamodel Alerts.Alerts 
3| search app=osquery:results (name=pack_osx-attacks_OSX_ColdRoot_RAT_Launchd OR name=pack_osx-attacks_OSX_ColdRoot_RAT_Files) 
4| rename columns.path as path 
5| bucket _time span=30s 
6| stats count(path) by _time, host, user, path 
7| `osquery_pack___coldroot_detection_filter`

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name	Value

| osquery_pack___coldroot_detection_filter | `` |

osquery_pack___coldroot_detection_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

Default Configuration

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

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`N/A`
Earliest Time	`N/A`
Latest Time	`N/A`
Schedule Window	`N/A`
Creates Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

In order to properly run this search, Splunk needs to ingest data from your osquery deployed agents with the osx-attacks.conf pack enabled. Also the TA-OSquery must be deployed across your indexers and universal forwarders in order to have the osquery data populate the Alerts data model

Known False Positives

There are no known false positives.

Associated Analytic Story

ColdRoot MacOS RAT

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

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: 5