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

Confidence

—

Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution. AppleScript is a macOS scripting language designed to control applications and parts of the OS via inter-application messages called AppleEvents.(Citation: Apple AppleScript) These AppleEvent messages can be sent independently or easily scripted with AppleScript. These events can locate open windows, send keystrokes, and interact with almost any open application locally or remotely. Scripts can be run from the command-line via osascript /path/to/script or osascript -e "script here" . Aside from the command line, scripts can be executed in numerous ways including Mail rules, Calendar.app alarms, and Automator workflows. AppleScripts can also be executed as plain text shell scripts by adding #!/usr/bin/osascript to the start of the script file.(Citation: SentinelOne AppleScript) AppleScripts do not need to call osascript to execute. However, they may be executed from within mach-O binaries by using the macOS [Native API](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1106)s NSAppleScript or OSAScript , both of which execute code independent of the /usr/bin/osascript command line utility. Adversaries may abuse AppleScript to execute various behaviors, such as interacting with an open SSH connection, moving to remote machines, and even presenting users with fake dialog boxes. These events cannot start applications remotely (they can start them locally), but they can interact with applications if they're already running remotely. On macOS 10.10 Yosemite and higher, AppleScript has the ability to execute [Native API](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1106)s, which otherwise would require compilation and execution in a mach-O binary file format.(Citation: SentinelOne macOS Red Team) Since this is a scripting language, it can be used to launch more common techniques as well such as a reverse shell via [Python](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/006).(Citation: Macro Malware Targets Macs)

10 recorded

Relationships

mitigatesMitigation
mitigatesMitigation
revoked-byTechnique
subtechnique-ofTechnique
usesMalware
usesMalware
uses
from Dok
Malware
usesMalware
usesMalware
usesMalware
5 external

References

mitre-attack
T1059.002
open
Apple AppleScript
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptLangGuide/introduction/ASLR_intro.html
open
SentinelOne macOS Red Team
https://www.sentinelone.com/blog/macos-red-team-calling-apple-apis-without-building-binaries/
open
SentinelOne AppleScript
https://www.sentinelone.com/blog/how-offensive-actors-use-applescript-for-attacking-macos/
open
Macro Malware Targets Macs
https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/other-blogs/mcafee-labs/macro-malware-targets-macs/
open