How to Check the Permissions Level of the Automox Service Account

Objective

To verify that the Automox Service Account (_automoxserviceaccount) possesses local administrator privileges on a macOS endpoint to ensure patches and policies execute successfully.

Overview

On macOS devices, Automox creates and utilizes a dedicated local service account (_automoxserviceaccount) to execute policies, install software updates, and perform administrative remediation tasks. If this account loses its administrative privileges, patch deployments and policy executions will fail.

Verification Procedure

 

1.Open Terminal:

On the impacted macOS device, launch the Terminal application (located in /Applications/Utilities/).

2.Query Local Admin Group Membership:

Execute the following command to list all user accounts assigned to the local admin group:

Bash

 
dscl . -read /Groups/admin GroupMembership

3.Verify Automox Account Presence:

Review the output and confirm that _automoxserviceaccount is included in the list of group members.

Example Output:

Plaintext

 
GroupMembership: root localadmin _automoxserviceaccount

 

Next Steps & Resolution

  • Account Included: If _automoxserviceaccount is listed, the Automox Agent has proper administrative permissions on the endpoint.

  • Account Missing: If _automoxserviceaccount is missing from the output, the service account lacks admin rights. Re-add the account to the admin group using local administrator credentials:

    Bash

     
    sudo dscl . -append /Groups/admin GroupMembership _automoxserviceaccount
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