Detection rules › Sigma

Amsi.DLL Loaded Via LOLBIN Process

Status
test
Severity
medium
Log source
product windows, category image_load
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects loading of "Amsi.dll" by a living of the land process. This could be an indication of a "PowerShell without PowerShell" attack

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Defense ImpairmentNo specific technique

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 7Image loaded

Rule body yaml

title: Amsi.DLL Loaded Via LOLBIN Process
id: 6ec86d9e-912e-4726-91a2-209359b999b9
status: test
description: Detects loading of "Amsi.dll" by a living of the land process. This could be an indication of a "PowerShell without PowerShell" attack
references:
    - Internal Research
    - https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/security-operations/stopping-powershell-without-powershell/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-06-01
modified: 2025-10-07
tags:
    - attack.defense-impairment
logsource:
    category: image_load
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        ImageLoaded|endswith: '\amsi.dll'
        Image|endswith:
            # TODO: Add more interesting processes
            - '\ExtExport.exe'
            - '\odbcconf.exe'
            # - '\regsvr32.exe' # legitimately calls amsi.dll
            - '\rundll32.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    ImageLoaded|endswith: '\amsi.dll'
    Image|endswith:
        - '\ExtExport.exe'
        - '\odbcconf.exe'
        - '\rundll32.exe'

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
Imageends_with
  • \ExtExport.exe corpus 3 (sigma 3)
  • \odbcconf.exe corpus 11 (sigma 11)
  • \rundll32.exe corpus 95 (sigma 95)
ImageLoadedends_with
  • \amsi.dll corpus 3 (sigma 3)