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T1546.014 · privilege-escalation, persistence · 0 actors · 0 correlated reports

Emond

Adversaries may gain persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by the Event Monitor Daemon (emond). Emond is a Launch Daemon that accepts events from various services, runs them through a simple rules engine, and takes action. The emond binary at /sbin/emond will load any rules from the /etc/emond.d/rules/ directory and take action once an explicitly defined event takes place. The rule files are in the plist format and define the name, event type, and action to take. Some examples of event types include system startup and user authentication. Examples of actions are to run a system command or send an email. The emond service will not launch if there is no file present in the QueueDirectories path /private/var/db/emondClients, specified in the Launch Daemon configuration file at/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.emond.plist. Adversaries may abuse this service by writing a rule to execute commands when a defined event occurs, such as system start up or user authentication. Adversaries may also be able to escalate privileges from administrator to root as the emond service is executed with root privileges by the Launch Daemon service.

Open detection, hunting, mitigation, and evidence workspace

Detection logic

Monitor emond rules creation by checking for files created or modified in /etc/emond.d/rules/ and /private/var/db/emondClients.

Observed actors

Correlated CTI and IR reports

Cyber Knowledge context

Use these routes to move from the ATT&CK behavior into explanation, implementation, evidence handling, validation, and defensive operations. Relevance is generated from explicit identifiers/names and governed topic mappings; it is not attribution evidence.

MITRE mitigations

M1042 · Disable or Remove Feature or Program

Disable or remove unnecessary and potentially vulnerable software, features, or services to reduce the attack surface and prevent abuse by adversaries. This involves identifying software or features that are no longer needed or that could be exploited and ensuring they are either removed or properly disabled. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures: Remove Legacy Software: - Use Case: Disable or remove older versions of software that no longer receive updates or security patches (e.g., legacy Java, Adobe Flash). - Implementation: A company removes Flash Player from all employee systems after it has reached its end-of-life date. Disable Unused Features: - Use Case: Turn off unnecessary operating system features like SMBv1, Telnet, or RDP if they are not required. - Implementation: Disable SMBv1 in a Windows environment to mitigate vulnerabilities like EternalBlu…

MITRE mitigation source

MITRE detection strategies and analytics

DET0555 · Detection Strategy for Event Triggered Execution via emond on macOS
  • AN1534 · Analytic 1534 — Detection focuses on identifying unauthorized file creation or modification within `/etc/emond.d/rules/` or `/private/var/db/emondClients`, which indicate attempts to register a malicious emond rule. Correlate with process execution of `/sbin/emond` and any launched commands it invokes, especially during boot or login events. Anomalies may include rules created by non-root users or unexpected shell commands executed by emond.
MITRE detection source

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