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T1564.009: Resource Forking

View on MITRE ATT&CK The MITRE Corporation · Published 16/12/2025 19:38 · Modified 27/03/2026 01:11

Essential information

MITRE technique ID
T1564.009
Confidence
100/100
Revoked
No
Published
16/12/2025 19:38
Modified
27/03/2026 01:11
Author / Source
The MITRE Corporation

Platforms

macos

Description

Adversaries may abuse resource forks to hide malicious code or executables to evade detection and bypass security applications. A resource fork provides applications a structured way to store resources such as thumbnail images, menu definitions, icons, dialog boxes, and code.(Citation: macOS Hierarchical File System Overview) Usage of a resource fork is identifiable when displaying a file’s extended attributes, using `ls -l@` or `xattr -l` commands. Resource forks have been deprecated and replaced with the application bundle structure. Non-localized resources are placed at the top level directory of an application bundle, while localized resources are placed in the `/Resources` folder.(Citation: Resource and Data Forks)(Citation: ELC Extended Attributes) Adversaries can use resource forks to hide malicious data that may otherwise be stored directly in files. Adversaries can execute content with an attached resource fork, at a specified offset, that is moved to an executable location then invoked. Resource fork content may also be obfuscated/encrypted until execution.(Citation: sentinellabs resource named fork 2020)(Citation: tau bundlore erika noerenberg 2020)

Kill chain phases

Kill chainPhase
mitre-attack defense-evasion

Marking (TLP)

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External references