Suspicious DLL Loaded for Persistence or Privilege Escalation

Last updated 12 days ago on 2026-01-02
Created 6 years ago on 2020-01-07

About

Identifies the loading of a non Microsoft signed DLL that is missing on a default Windows install (phantom DLL) or one that can be loaded from a different location by a native Windows process. This may be abused to persist or elevate privileges via privileged file write vulnerabilities.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Privilege EscalationTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Persistence (TA0003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.library-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

windows(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
any where host.os.type == "windows" and ( /* Elastic Defend DLL load events */ (event.category == "library" and ( ?dll.name : ("wlbsctrl.dll", "wbemcomn.dll", "WptsExtensions.dll", "Tsmsisrv.dll", "TSVIPSrv.dll", "Msfte.dll", "wow64log.dll", "WindowsCoreDeviceInfo.dll", "Ualapi.dll", "wlanhlp.dll", "phoneinfo.dll", "EdgeGdi.dll", "cdpsgshims.dll", "windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "diagtrack_win.dll", "TPPCOIPW32.dll", "tpgenlic.dll", "thinmon.dll", "fxsst.dll", "msTracer.dll") or (?dll.path : "?:\\Windows\\*\\oci.dll" and process.executable : "?:\\Windows\\*.exe") ) and (?dll.code_signature.trusted == false or ?dll.code_signature.exists == false or (?dll.code_signature.trusted == true and not ?dll.code_signature.subject_name : ("Microsoft Windows", "Microsoft Corporation", "Microsoft Windows Publisher")) )) or /* Sysmon DLL load events */ ((event.category == "process" and event.action like "Image loaded*") and file.code_signature.status != "Valid" and file.name : ("wlbsctrl.dll", "wbemcomn.dll", "WptsExtensions.dll", "Tsmsisrv.dll", "TSVIPSrv.dll", "Msfte.dll", "wow64log.dll", "WindowsCoreDeviceInfo.dll", "Ualapi.dll", "wlanhlp.dll", "phoneinfo.dll", "EdgeGdi.dll", "cdpsgshims.dll", "windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "diagtrack_win.dll", "TPPCOIPW32.dll", "tpgenlic.dll", "thinmon.dll", "fxsst.dll", "msTracer.dll") and not file.hash.sha256 in ("6e837794fc282446906c36d681958f2f6212043fc117c716936920be166a700f", "b14e4954e8cca060ffeb57f2458b6a3a39c7d2f27e94391cbcea5387652f21a4", "c258d90acd006fa109dc6b748008edbb196d6168bc75ace0de0de54a4db46662", "254e5053ac04b7623e86234077876388e0b10c3ac5c3f4e4e86292b62571bfb0")) ) and not ( ?dll.path : ( "?:\\Windows\\System32\\wbemcomn.dll", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wbemcomn.dll", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\wlanhlp.dll", "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wbemcomn.dll", "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\System32\\wbemcomn.dll", "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wlanhlp.dll", "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\System32\\wlanhlp.dll", "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\System32\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "C:\\ProgramData\\docker\\windowsfilter\\*\\Files\\Windows\\System32\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "\\Device\\vmsmb\\VSMB-{*}\\os\\windows\\system32\\*.dll", "C:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\amd64_microsoft-windows-wmi-core-wbemcomn-dll_*\\wbemcomn.dll", "C:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\wow64_microsoft-windows-wmi-core-wbemcomn-dll_*\\wbemcomn.dll", "C:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\amd64_microsoft-windows-coresystem-wpr_*\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll" ) or file.path : ( "?:\\Windows\\System32\\wbemcomn.dll", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wbemcomn.dll", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\wlanhlp.dll", "C:\\ProgramData\\docker\\windowsfilter\\*\\Files\\Windows\\System32\\windowsperformancerecordercontrol.dll", "C:\\ProgramData\\docker\\windowsfilter\\*\\Files\\Windows\\System32\\wbemcomn.dll", "\\Device\\vmsmb\\VSMB-{*}\\os\\windows\\system32\\*.dll", "C:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\amd64_microsoft-windows-wmi-core-wbemcomn-dll_*\\wbemcomn.dll", "C:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\wow64_microsoft-windows-wmi-core-wbemcomn-dll_*\\wbemcomn.dll" ) or ?dll.code_signature.status like "errorCode_endpoint*" )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Suspicious DLL Loaded for Persistence or Privilege Escalation in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).