What is osascript in my login panel?

After upgrading to Ventura 13.2, I got a bunch of warnings telling me I have osascripts in my login. I've got five of these in my list of login items and it says they are unidentified. What are they? Should I disable them or not?



Mac Studio

Posted on Jan 23, 2023 10:34 PM

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Posted on Jan 24, 2023 11:55 AM

Call that is the process that handles open scripting architecture script. It is provided by Apple, but as you noticed, they really don’t sign any of their own things.

Some piece of software that you installed providing your admin password to install it, is using the open scripting architecture to run some type of script in the background. You install the software to do something for you, so disabling its background process is probably not something you want to do. However, you may want to try and figure out what it is you installed that is running that process and decide whether you really need it anymore. If you decide that app is no longer needed you should follow the developers instructions to uninstall it.

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Jan 24, 2023 11:55 AM in response to Cartoonguy

Call that is the process that handles open scripting architecture script. It is provided by Apple, but as you noticed, they really don’t sign any of their own things.

Some piece of software that you installed providing your admin password to install it, is using the open scripting architecture to run some type of script in the background. You install the software to do something for you, so disabling its background process is probably not something you want to do. However, you may want to try and figure out what it is you installed that is running that process and decide whether you really need it anymore. If you decide that app is no longer needed you should follow the developers instructions to uninstall it.

Jan 24, 2023 5:16 PM in response to Cartoonguy

Cartoonguy wrote:

But the osascript gives no indication as to what app is generating it, so how would I find out?

Yes, they did make it quite difficult.


EtreCheck can help you identify things you have installed, but it can't tell you what is calling that process.

It could be something that has a launchd plist in your user Library/LaunchAgents or in the main /Library/LaunchDaemons or /Library/LaunchAgents.

Feb 13, 2023 1:42 PM in response to Cartoonguy

• Your screenshot shows multiple items; they all point to the same file. Is the multiple occurrence a bug, or does it mean something that is not mentioned? Either way this is a bug.

• If you click on the (i) icon, you will see that all of your items point to the file, /usr/bin/osascript, which is from Apple, not from an unidentified developer. This statement is a bug.

• The alert message and the info dialog don’t provide or lead to useful information. Ultimately this is a 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️ situation — not what you want when it comes to security issues.


I got a few of these today (for the first time?) when updating to macOS Ventura 13.2.1

Jan 24, 2023 4:42 PM in response to Cartoonguy

It's been running in the background since you installed the app.

Now, Apple tells you it is running.


I don't think anyone has figured out what triggers the repeated notifications. If I had something installed that was triggering repeated notifications, I would uninstall the app, then reinstall to see if that would fix it. If not, check with the developer for an update.

Feb 7, 2023 1:04 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for suggesting EtreCheck, it worked for me.

I've a couple of unknown `osascript` items: they didn't show up in EtreCheck's Login Items section, although I've been able to find them in the full report (in my case, it's the Alfred app that needs scripts to make the 1Passwords extension work).

It's kinda weird that privacy-savvy Apple doesn't tell you what script's been loading directly in the Preferences, I would have expected more info in that place. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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What is osascript in my login panel?

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