DET0555: Detection Strategy for Event Triggered Execution via emond on macOS
DET0555 is a MITRE detection strategy object for spotting Event Triggered Execution via emond on macOS, tied to ATT&CK technique T1546.014. The business si...
Analyst context for executives and security teams
DET0555 is a MITRE detection strategy object for spotting Event Triggered Execution via emond on macOS, tied to ATT&CK technique T1546.014. The business significance is persistence and privilege-escalation risk on macOS systems: if emond rules are abused, activity may be triggered by system events rather than obvious user actions, making it easy to miss without endpoint visibility into rule changes and daemon-driven execution.
Executive priority
Treat this as a macOS endpoint resilience and incident-readiness question: do security teams have evidence showing when emond rules are created or changed, and can they explain what /sbin/emond executed afterward? For organizations with material macOS fleets, this supports control prioritization around endpoint telemetry, change monitoring, privileged file-system locations, and audit evidence for persistence detection. Because the supplied ATT&CK object has no official detection text, leaders should ask for local validation rather than assume coverage exists.
Technical view
SOC and detection engineering teams should validate coverage against the related technique T1546.014 Emond, which MITRE maps to persistence and privilege escalation on macOS. Focus on changes to /etc/emond.d/rules/ and activity involving the /sbin/emond binary, especially rule-driven actions following explicitly defined events. Incident responders should be prepared to review emond rule contents, timestamps, ownership, and any child or follow-on execution associated with emond. Detection logic should be tested in the local macOS environment because the detection strategy object itself does not provide official analytics, platforms, or detection procedures.
Likely telemetry
- macOS endpoint process execution telemetry involving /sbin/emond
- File creation, modification, deletion, ownership, and permission changes under /etc/emond.d/rules/
- Endpoint file integrity or configuration monitoring for emond rule locations
- Parent-child or causality telemetry showing actions launched by emond
- Host timeline evidence for rule changes correlated with subsequent event-triggered execution
Detection direction
- Confirm whether endpoint sensors collect both file-change telemetry for /etc/emond.d/rules/ and process execution context for /sbin/emond.
- Baseline legitimate emond rule files and expected administrative changes to reduce false positives from authorized configuration activity.
- Correlate new or modified emond rules with later daemon-triggered actions rather than relying only on one event type.
- Validate macOS coverage specifically through the related technique context, since the detection strategy object lists no platform of its own.
- Document blind spots where file monitoring, process lineage, or privileged path visibility is missing.
Mitigation priorities
- Prioritize visibility first: ensure macOS endpoints report file changes in emond rule directories and execution context for daemon-driven activity.
- Restrict and review administrative access capable of modifying emond rules and related privileged locations.
- Maintain a known-good baseline of emond rule files for managed macOS systems and investigate unexpected drift.
- Include emond rule review in macOS persistence checks during incident response.
- Use validation results as evidence for compliance, audit, and resilience reporting where macOS endpoint persistence monitoring is in scope.
Analyst notes and limits
This take is based on the DET0555 detection strategy metadata and its relationship to ATT&CK technique T1546.014 Emond. The source object does not include an official description or detection field, so the practical guidance is intentionally framed as validation direction derived from the related technique’s supplied description, tactics, platform, and paths.
The detection strategy object has no official detection logic, no official description, and no platforms or tactics directly specified. Any assessment of actual coverage, alert quality, or exposure requires local telemetry, macOS fleet scope, and control configuration evidence.
Detection Strategy for Event Triggered Execution via emond on macOS
No official description is available in the imported ATT&CK source object.
How security teams should use this page
Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.
Techniques used
This mirrors the MITRE pattern of making group, software, campaign, and technique relationships scannable. Relationship notes come from mirrored ATT&CK relationship text when available.
All related ATT&CK context
Object version and sync metadata
The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates .
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases (1)
| Release | Bundle imported | Object version | Modified | Status | Raw hash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.1 | 1.0 | Current bundle | d5f1542dbdf5… |
Mirrored ATT&CK source object
The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.
External references and citations
MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.
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mitre-attack DET0555Open source URL
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