H3XAOperational intelligence
Live analytical pictureEvidence before assessment
TypeTechnique
External ID—
First seen2026-08-14
Last seen2026-08-14

Confidence

—

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. Keychains can be viewed and edited through the Keychain Access application or using the command-line utility security . Keychain files are located in ~/Library/Keychains/ , /Library/Keychains/ , and /Network/Library/Keychains/ .(Citation: Keychain Services Apple)(Citation: Keychain Decryption Passware)(Citation: OSX Keychain Schaumann) Adversaries may gather user credentials from Keychain storage/memory. For example, the command security dump-keychain –d will dump all Login Keychain credentials from ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db . Adversaries may also directly read Login Keychain credentials from the ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain 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.(Citation: External to DA, the OS X Way)(Citation: Empire Keychain Decrypt)

16 recorded

Relationships

mapped-toTechnique
mitigatesMitigation
revoked-byTechnique
subtechnique-ofTechnique
usesMalware
uses
from Calisto
Malware
usesGroup
usesMalware
uses
from Empire
Tool
usesMalware
usesMalware
uses
from iKitten
Malware
uses
from LaZagne
Tool
usesMalware
uses
from MacMa
Malware
uses
from Proton
Malware
6 external

References

mitre-attack
T1555.001
open
External to DA, the OS X Way
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/external-to-da-the-os-x-way/62021418
open
Keychain Services Apple
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/keychain_services
open
Empire Keychain Decrypt
https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire/blob/08cbd274bef78243d7a8ed6443b8364acd1fc48b/lib/modules/python/collection/osx/keychaindump_decrypt.py
open
OSX Keychain Schaumann
https://www.netmeister.org/blog/keychain-passwords.html
open
Keychain Decryption Passware
https://support.passware.com/hc/en-us/articles/4573379868567-A-Deep-Dive-into-Apple-Keychain-Decryption
open