t1546-014-emond

name	T1546.014_emond
description	Adversaries may gain persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by the Event Monitor Daemon (emond).
category	authorization
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1546.014","privilege-escalation","persistence","macos","sub-technique"]
technique_id	T1546.014
tactic	privilege-escalation
all_tactics	["privilege-escalation","persistence"]
platforms	["macOS"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/014
tech_stack	["macos"]
cwe_ids	["CWE-269"]
chains_with	["T1546","T1546.001","T1546.002","T1546.003","T1546.004","T1546.005","T1546.006","T1546.007","T1546.008","T1546.009","T1546.010","T1546.011","T1546.012","T1546.013","T1546.015","T1546.016","T1546.017","T1546.018"]
prerequisites	["T1546"]
severity_boost	{"T1546":"Chain with T1546 for deeper attack path","T1546.001":"Chain with T1546.001 for deeper attack path","T1546.002":"Chain with T1546.002 for deeper attack path"}

T1546.014 Emond

Sub-technique of: T1546

High-Level Description

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.

Kill Chain Phase

• Privilege Escalation (TA0004)
• Persistence (TA0003)

Platforms: macOS

What to Check

• Identify if Emond technique is applicable to target environment
• Check macOS systems for indicators of Emond
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (1 known mitigations)
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Atomic Red Team Tests

The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:

Atomic Test 1: Persistance with Event Monitor - emond

Establish persistence via a rule run by OSX's emond (Event Monitor) daemon at startup, based on https://posts.specterops.io/leveraging-emond-on-macos-for-persistence-a040a2785124

Supported Platforms: macos Elevation Required: Yes