Adversaries may attempt to find local system groups and permission settings. The knowledge of local system permission groups can help adversaries determine which groups exist and which users belong to a particular group. Adversaries may use this information to determine which users have elevated permissions, such as the users found within the local administrators group. Commands such as <code>net localgroup</code> of the Net utility, <code>dscl . -list /Groups</code> on macOS, and <code>groups</code> on Linux can list local groups.
Detects use of dscl or id/group commands to enumerate local system groups, often by post-exploitation tools or persistence checks.
Detects attempts to enumerate local groups via Net.exe, PowerShell, or native API calls that precede lateral movement or privilege abuse.
Detects enumeration of local groups using common binaries (groups, getent, cat /etc/group) or scripting with suspicious lineage.