Response playbooks, investigation guides, and Atomic Red Team tests are Pro-only. Upgrade to unlock the full detection package for T1548.006.
Upgrade to ProDetect TCC Manipulation in Splunk
This detection identifies adversary attempts to manipulate macOS Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) protections — either by directly modifying the TCC SQLite database to grant unauthorized permissions, by injecting into TCC-privileged applications such as Finder to inherit Full Disk Access, by abusing environment variables to load a rogue TCC database, or by exploiting SIP-disabled systems where TCC protections are bypassed entirely. Successful TCC abuse grants attackers access to protected resources including the camera, microphone, screen recording, Full Disk Access, and sensitive user directories without user prompts.
MITRE ATT&CK
- Technique
- T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
- Sub-technique
- T1548.006 TCC Manipulation
- Canonical reference
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/006/
SPL Detection Query
index=mac_logs (sourcetype="osquery" OR sourcetype="jamf" OR sourcetype="kandji" OR sourcetype="syslog")
(
("TCC.db" AND ("sqlite3" OR "INSERT INTO access" OR "UPDATE access" OR "DELETE FROM access"))
OR ("com.apple.TCC" AND ("SQLITE_TMPDIR" OR "HOME_TCC_DB"))
OR (process_name IN ("bash","sh","zsh","python3","osascript","ruby","perl") AND parent_process_name="Finder")
OR (file_path="*/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db" AND event_type IN ("write","create","rename") AND process_name NOT IN ("tccd","syspolicyd","mdmclient"))
)
| eval detection_type=case(
like(cmdline, "%sqlite3%TCC.db%"), "SQLite TCC Injection",
like(cmdline, "%SQLITE_TMPDIR%") OR like(cmdline, "%HOME_TCC_DB%"), "Rogue TCC DB Environment Abuse",
parent_process_name="Finder" AND process_name IN ("bash","sh","zsh","osascript","python3"), "Finder TCC Inheritance",
like(file_path, "%com.apple.TCC/TCC.db%"), "TCC DB Direct Write",
true(), "Unknown TCC Abuse"
)
| stats count min(_time) as first_seen max(_time) as last_seen values(cmdline) as commands values(file_path) as files by host, user, process_name, parent_process_name, detection_type
| where count > 0
| sort - last_seen
| table host, user, process_name, parent_process_name, detection_type, commands, files, first_seen, last_seen, countDetects TCC manipulation on macOS endpoints via osquery or EDR log sources, covering direct TCC.db writes by unauthorized processes, environment variable abuse to load rogue TCC databases, and Finder inheritance attacks.
Data Sources
Required Sourcetypes
False Positives & Tuning
- MDM enrollment and profile push operations via mdmclient legitimately write to system TCC.db
- Developer workstations running automated UI tests may spawn osascript under Finder for legitimate Xcode automation
- IT provisioning scripts using sqlite3 to bulk-configure TCC for standardized macOS builds in managed environments
Other platforms for T1548.006
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1Direct SQLite Injection into System TCC Database
Expected signal: DeviceFileEvents with ActionType=FileModified on /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db, initiating process sqlite3. macOS Unified Log entries from com.apple.TCC subsystem recording database modification.
- Test 2Rogue TCC Database via Environment Variable
Expected signal: Process launch event for osascript with SQLITE_TMPDIR environment variable set to non-standard path. File creation events in /tmp/tcc_test/com.apple.TCC/. sqlite3 process execution with TCC.db path argument.
- Test 3Finder TCC Inheritance via AppleScript
Expected signal: Process launch event showing osascript spawned as child of Finder process. Subsequent shell command execution accessing ~/Library/Messages/ which is normally TCC-protected. File creation event at /tmp/tcc_finder_test.txt.
Unlock playbooks & atomic tests with Pro
Get the full detection package for T1548.006 — response playbook and atomic red team tests, plus investigation guidance and hunting queries.
df00tech Pro — £29/user/month