ThiefQuest prepends a copy of itself to the beginning of an executable file while maintaining the name of the executable.45
tool
ThiefQuest S0595
- Type
- malware
- Platform
- macOS
- Created
- 19 March 2021
- Last modified
- 16 April 2025
ThiefQuest is a virus, data stealer, and wiper that presents itself as ransomware targeting macOS systems. ThiefQuest was first seen in 2020 distributed via trojanized pirated versions of popular macOS software on Russian forums sharing torrent links.[1] Even though ThiefQuest presents itself as ransomware, since the dynamically generated encryption key is never sent to the attacker it may be more appropriately thought of as a form of wiper malware.[2][3]
18
TechniquesTop 25%
11
TacticsTop 2%
0
Threat groupsNone recorded
0
CampaignsNone recorded
Enterprise ATT&CK only. Any Mobile or ICS rows on the same ATT&CK page are not carried.
MITRE reference S0595
ThiefQuest exfiltrates targeted file extensions in the /Users/ folder to the command and control server via unencrypted HTTP. Network packets contain a string with two pieces of information: a file path and the contents of the file in a base64 encoded string.67
ThiefQuest uses the CGEventTap functions to perform keylogging.8
ThiefQuest obtains a list of running processes using the function kill_unwanted.9
ThiefQuest uses AppleScript's osascript -e command to launch ThiefQuest's persistence via Launch Agent and Launch Daemon. 10
ThiefQuest uploads files via unencrypted HTTP. 1112
Standing S0595
Reach is how much of ATT&CK this tool touches. Coverage is how well defended each thing it does is, as a median per technique rather than a total — a total would just restate the reach. Each figure is ranked against all 825 ATT&CK software entries only where that population actually spreads. Where most of the population shares one value, a percentile would rank the tie instead of the entity, so the raw value is shown and no rank is claimed.
Reach
Techniques18Top 25%
75th percentile · 75% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many Enterprise techniques or fewer.
Tactics11Top 2%
98th percentile · 98% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many tactics spanned or fewer.
Threat groups061% tie · 22 values
61% of the population shares a single value across only 22 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Campaigns085% tie · 8 values
85% of the population shares a single value across only 8 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Coverage
Rules / technique10medBottom 15%
15th percentile · 85% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have more detection rules per technique.
Tests / technique3med
Detection coverage S0595
611 distinct rules cover the 18 techniques recorded for this tool. The 627 technique-to-rule mappings resolve to 611 distinct rules, because one rule can cover several techniques. 395 Sigma · 216 Splunk.
18 covered by at least one rule611 distinct rules in total
tf
Loading...Drag headers to reorder | Drag edges to resize
tf
Loading detections...
| Select | Title | Description | Category | Status | Event | Product | MITRE ATT&CK | CVEs | Severity | Author | Created | Updated | ID | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
© 2026 The MITRE Corporation. ATT&CK® and D3FEND™ data reproduced with permission. SigmaHQ detection rules licensed under DRL 1.1. attack.mitre.org · d3fend.mitre.org · CAR analytics licensed under Apache 2.0 · car.mitre.org