Techniques › T1555 › T1555.001
T1555.001 Keychain
credential access — macOS · attack.mitre.org · JSON
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MITRE detection strategy
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analytics
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Sigma rules tagged attack.t1555.001
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KEV CVEs mapped here
<p>Adversaries may acquire credentials from Keychain. Keychain (or Keychain Services) is the macOS credential management system that stores account names, passwords, private keys, certificates, sensitive application data, payment data, and secure notes. There are three types of Keychains: Login Keychain, System Keychain, and Local Items (iCloud) Keychain. The default Keychain is the Login Keychain, which stores user passwords and information. The System Keychain stores items accessed by the operating system, such as items shared among users on a host. The Local Items (iCloud) Keychain is used for items synced with Apple’s iCloud service.</p><p>Keychains can be viewed and edited through the Keychain Access application or using the command-line utility <code>security</code>. Keychain files are located in <code>~/Library/Keychains/</code>, <code>/Library/Keychains/</code>, and <code>/Network/Library/Keychains/</code>.</p><p>Adversaries may gather user credentials from Keychain storage/memory. For example, the command <code>security dump-keychain –d</code> will dump all Login Keychain credentials from <code>~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db</code>. Adversaries may also directly read Login Keychain credentials from the <code>~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain</code> file. Both methods require a password, where the default password for the Login Keychain is the current user’s password to login to the macOS host.</p>
KEV CVEs mapped to this technique · CTID Mappings Explorer
None. No KEV entry in the public mapping names this technique. Given that 74.7% of KEV has no mapping at all, this says more about the mapping than about the technique.
Detection strategy · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2
- DET0396 Detect Access to macOS Keychain for Credential Theft v1.0
AN1112 macOSDetects suspicious access to macOS Keychain files and APIs. Observes processes invoking the 'security' utility or accessing Keychain databases directly, correlates these with abnormal parent process lineage or unexpected user context. Monitors attempts to dump, unlock, or read credential storage beyond normal application workflows.Tunable:
AllowedApplicationsAlertThresholdParentProcessContext
Sigma rules · SigmaHQ da9bb07d64, tag attack.t1555.001
Author: Tim Ismilyaev, oscd.community, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2020-10-19 (modified 2021-11-27) · logsource: product=macos category=process_creation · b120b587-a4c2-4b94-875d-99c9807d6955
Detects passwords dumps from Keychain
Rules tagged at the parent level (attack.t1555) 8
These target the parent technique, not this sub-technique specifically. Listed for completeness, not counted as coverage.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2021-07-14 (modified 2022-07-14) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 58f4ea09-0fc2-4520-ba18-b85c540b0eaf
Detects a suspicious process pattern which could be a sign of an exploited Serv-U service
Author: frack113
· 2021-12-20 (modified 2022-12-25) · logsource: product=windows category=ps_script · 603c6630-5225-49c1-8047-26c964553e0e
Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.
Passwords are stored in several places on a system, depending on the operating system or application holding the credentials.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2018-12-19 (modified 2023-02-04) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 7679d464-4f74-45e2-9e01-ac66c5eb041a
Detects the execution of SecurityXploded Tools
Author: Nounou Mbeiri, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2024-06-26 · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 7892ec59-c5bb-496d-8968-e5d210ca3ac4
Detects file names with specific patterns seen generated and used by tools such as Mimikatz and DSInternals related to exported or stolen DPAPI backup keys and certificates.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel
· 2023-12-04 · logsource: product=windows category=ps_script · 851fd622-b675-4d26-b803-14bc7baa517a
Detects scriptblock text keywords indicative of potential usge of the tool WinPwn. A tool for Windows and Active Directory reconnaissance and exploitation.
Author: frack113
· 2021-12-20 (modified 2022-12-25) · logsource: product=windows category=ps_script · 99c49d9c-34ea-45f7-84a7-4751ae6b2cbc
Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.
Passwords are stored in several places on a system, depending on the operating system or application holding the credentials.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
· 2025-10-21 · logsource: product=aws service=cloudtrail · a840e606-7c8c-4684-9bc1-eb6b6155127f
Detects the execution of TruffleHog, a popular open-source tool used for scanning repositories for secrets and sensitive information, within an AWS environment.
It has been reported to be used by threat actors for credential harvesting. All detections should be investigated to determine if the usage is authorized by security teams or potentially malicious.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel
· 2023-12-04 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · d557dc06-62e8-4468-a8e8-7984124908ce
Detects commandline keywords indicative of potential usge of the tool WinPwn. A tool for Windows and Active Directory reconnaissance and exploitation.