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ATT&CK techniqueExecution

T1059.002 AppleScript

ExecutionEnterpriseSub-technique

As of 2026-10-05, T1059.002 (AppleScript) appears in 29 tracked threats, first reported 2026-02-16 and most recently 2026-10-02, with linked actors including APT38, ClickLock Dev, Sapphire Sleet; it most often appears alongside T1059.004 (Unix Shell).

Tracked threats
294 critical, 24 high, 1 medium
First seen
2026-02-16
Last seen
2026-10-02
Threat actors
8In the threats using it
Detection rules
72Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1059.002 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 10 reports, and 29 of the 29 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-10.

How adversaries use it

T1059.002 AppleScript is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Execution tactic in the Enterprise matrix, as a sub-technique of T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter. Threadlinqs maps 29 of 2623 tracked threats (1.1%) to it; by severity that is 4 critical, 24 high, 1 medium.

Threats that use T1059.002 most often also use T1059.004 Unix Shell (26 threats), T1005 Data from Local System (24 threats), T1071.001 Web Protocols (24 threats), T1555.003 Credentials from Web Browsers (24 threats), T1082 System Information Discovery (22 threats). These are the techniques an intrusion set tends to chain with it, so they are the natural next places to look when it is observed.

8 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1059.002; the most frequent are APT38 (3), ClickLock Dev (2), Sapphire Sleet (2), Stardust Chollima (2), UNC1069 (2).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 2 mitigations for T1059.002.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1059.002, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Command — Command Execution
  • Process — OS API Execution, Process Creation

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

29 tracked threats use T1059.002.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 72 detection rules mapped to T1059.002 (SPL 17, KQL 26, Sigma 29). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

72 detection rules (SPL/KQL/Sigma) · Blue and above. Compare plans

Parent technique

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter — 1050 tracked threats at the technique level.