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T1548.006 TCC Manipulation

Adversaries can manipulate or abuse the Transparency, Consent, & Control (TCC) service or database to grant malicious executables elevated permissions. TCC is a Privacy & Security macOS control mechanism used to determine if the running process has permission to access the data or services protected by TCC, such as screen sharing, camera, microphone, or Full Disk Access (FDA).

When an application requests to access data or a service protected by TCC, the TCC daemon (tccd) checks the TCC database, located at /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db (and ~/ equivalent), and an overwrites file (if connected to an MDM) for existing permissions. If permissions do not exist, then the user is prompted to grant permission. Once permissions are granted, the database stores the application’s permissions and will not prompt the user again unless reset. For example, when a web browser requests permissions to the user’s webcam, once granted the web browser may not explicitly prompt the user again.1

Adversaries may access restricted data or services protected by TCC through abusing applications previously granted permissions through Process Injection or executing a malicious binary using another application. For example, adversaries can use Finder, a macOS native app with FDA permissions, to execute a malicious AppleScript. When executing under the Finder App, the malicious AppleScript inherits access to all files on the system without requiring a user prompt. When System Integrity Protection (SIP) is disabled, TCC protections are also disabled. For a system without SIP enabled, adversaries can manipulate the TCC database to add permissions to their malicious executable through loading an adversary controlled TCC database using environment variables and Launchctl.32

Item Value
ID T1548.006
Sub-techniques T1548.001, T1548.002, T1548.003, T1548.004, T1548.005, T1548.006
Tactics TA0005, TA0004
Platforms macOS
Version 1.1
Created 21 March 2024
Last Modified 15 April 2025

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0658 XCSSET For several modules, XCSSET attempts to access or list the contents of user folders such as Desktop, Downloads, and Documents. If the folder does not exist or access is denied, it enters a loop where it resets the TCC database and retries access.4

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1047 Audit Routinely check applications using Automation under Security & Privacy System Preferences. To reset permissions, user’s can utilize the tccutil reset command. When using Mobile Device Management (MDM), review the list of enabled or disabled applications in the MDMOverrides.plist which overrides the TCC database.3
M1026 Privileged Account Management Remove unnecessary users from the local administrator group on systems.
M1022 Restrict File and Directory Permissions When using an MDM, ensure the permissions granted are specific to the requirements of the binary. Full Disk Access should be restricted to only necessary binaries in alignment with policy.

References

  1. Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé. (2022, July 19). I see what you did there: A look at the CloudMensis macOS spyware. Retrieved March 21, 2024. ↩

  2. Marina Liang. (2024, April 23). Return of the mac(OS): Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) Database Manipulation. Retrieved March 28, 2024. ↩

  3. Phil Stokes. (2021, July 1). Bypassing macOS TCC User Privacy Protections By Accident and Design. Retrieved March 21, 2024. ↩↩

  4. Microsoft Threat Intelligence. (2025, March 11). New XCSSET malware adds new obfuscation, persistence techniques to infect Xcode projects. Retrieved April 2, 2025. ↩