MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Description
Starting in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), users can specify certain applications to be re-opened when a user reboots their machine. While this is usually done via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on an app-by-app basis, there are property list files (plist) that contain this information as well located at <code>~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist</code> and <code>~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.loginwindow.* .plist</code>. An adversary can modify one of these files directly to include a link to their malicious executable to provide a persistence mechanism each time the user reboots their machine (Citation: Methods of Mac Malware Persistence).
Supported Platforms
Created
April 29, 2026
Last Updated
April 29, 2026
STIX Data
{'created': '2017-12-14T16:46:06.044Z',
'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
'description': 'Starting in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), users can specify certain '
'applications to be re-opened when a user reboots their '
'machine. While this is usually done via a Graphical User '
'Interface (GUI) on an app-by-app basis, there are property '
'list files (plist) that contain this information as well '
'located at '
'<code>~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist</code> '
'and '
'<code>~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.loginwindow.* '
'.plist</code>. \n'
'\n'
'An adversary can modify one of these files directly to '
'include a link to their malicious executable to provide a '
'persistence mechanism each time the user reboots their '
'machine (Citation: Methods of Mac Malware Persistence).',
'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1164',
'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1164'},
{'description': 'Patrick Wardle. (2014, September). '
'Methods of Malware Persistence on '
'Mac OS X. Retrieved July 5, 2017.',
'source_name': 'Methods of Mac Malware Persistence',
'url': 'https://www.virusbulletin.com/uploads/pdf/conference/vb2014/VB2014-Wardle.pdf'}],
'id': 'attack-pattern--6a3be63a-64c5-4678-a036-03ff8fc35300',
'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
'phase_name': 'persistence'}],
'modified': '2025-10-24T17:48:54.452Z',
'name': 'Re-opened Applications',
'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
'revoked': True,
'spec_version': '2.1',
'type': 'attack-pattern',
'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
'x_mitre_detection': '',
'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
'x_mitre_is_subtechnique': False,
'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
'x_mitre_platforms': ['macOS'],
'x_mitre_version': '1.2'}