DLL Sideloading by VMware Xfer Utility

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

Detects execution of VMware Xfer utility (VMwareXferlogs.exe) from the non-default directory which may be an attempt to sideload arbitrary DLL

Known false positives

Unlikely

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1574.001` Hijack Execution Flow: DLL
Stealth	`T1574.001` Hijack Execution Flow: DLL

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 1: Process creation
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688: A new process has been created.

Rule body

title: DLL Sideloading by VMware Xfer Utility
id: ebea773c-a8f1-42ad-a856-00cb221966e8
status: test
description: Detects execution of VMware Xfer utility (VMwareXferlogs.exe) from the non-default directory which may be an attempt to sideload arbitrary DLL
references:
    - https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/lockbit-ransomware-side-loads-cobalt-strike-beacon-with-legitimate-vmware-utility/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-08-02
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.execution
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1574.001
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\VMwareXferlogs.exe'
    filter: # VMware might be installed in another path so update the rule accordingly
        Image|startswith: 'C:\Program Files\VMware\'
    condition: selection and not filter
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection and not filter

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\VMwareXferlogs.exe'

Stage 2: `not filter`

filter:
    Image|startswith: 'C:\Program Files\VMware\'

Exclusions

The rule actively suppresses these predicates.

Field	Kind	Excluded values	Search
`Image`	starts_with	`C:\Program Files\VMware\`	`excludes:Image` `field:"Image" value:"C:\Program Files\VMware\"`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`Image`	ends_with	`\VMwareXferlogs.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2)	`field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\VMwareXferlogs.exe"`