soc-hunting-dll

| | Sysmon | Event ID 7 DLL load monitoring | | CrowdStrike Falcon | DLL load detection with process context | | Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | DLL load anomaly detection | | Process Monitor | Real-time DLL load tracing | | DLL Export Viewer | Verify DLL export functions | | Sigcheck | Digital signature verification | | pe-sieve | PE analysis for proxied DLLs |

Common Scenarios

1. Legitimate App Wrapper: Adversary copies signed application (e.g., OneDrive updater) to temp folder alongside malicious DLL with same name as expected dependency.
2. Phantom DLL Exploitation: Malicious DLL placed in PATH location where legitimate app searches for non-existent DLL.
3. DLL Proxy Loading: Malicious version.dll proxies all exports to real version.dll while executing malicious code on DllMain.
4. Software Update Hijack: Attacker replaces DLL in update staging directory before legitimate updater loads it.

Output Format

Hunt ID: TH-SIDELOAD-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Technique: T1574.002
Host Application: [Legitimate signed executable]
Sideloaded DLL: [Malicious DLL name and path]
Expected DLL Path: [Where DLL should legitimately be]
DLL Signed: [Yes/No]
App Location: [Expected/Anomalous]
Host: [Hostname]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]