Detection rules › Splunk
DLL Called with Uncommon Function (PowerShell)
DLLs can invoke a variety of functions when executed. While these functions are part of legitimate Windows operations, their execution from a DLL file, especially in an unusual context, can be indicative of malicious behavior. Threat actors including Qbot have been observed abusing this technique when calling DLLs with rundll32.exe. This use case detects calls of uncommon functions from DLL files, accounting for instances where rundll32.exe has been renamed. While these function calls may be legitimate, unexpected executions should be investigated
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Stealth |
References
Telemetry coverage
| Provider | Record / event type |
|---|---|
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104: Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
Rule body
id: '27059.49382'
title: DLL Called with Uncommon Function
description: DLLs can invoke a variety of functions when executed. While these functions
are part of legitimate Windows operations, their execution from a DLL file, especially
in an unusual context, can be indicative of malicious behavior. Threat actors including
Qbot have been observed abusing this technique when calling DLLs with rundll32.exe.
This use case detects calls of uncommon functions from DLL files, accounting for
instances where rundll32.exe has been renamed. While these function calls may be
legitimate, unexpected executions should be investigated. Living Off the Land Binary
and Scripts (LOLBAS) (LOLBIN)
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4104) OR
"<EventID>4104<") ".dll" ("RS32" OR "VirtualAllocEx" OR "NtUnmapViewOfSection" OR
"CreateRemoteThread" OR "RtlCreateUserThread" OR "DeviceIoControl" OR "WriteProcessMemory"
OR "CryptEncrypt" OR "CryptDecrypt" OR "RegSetValueEx" OR "SetWindowsHookEx" OR
"DLLRegisterServer") | rex field=process "\.dll,(?<called_function>[^\s]+)"| where
match(process, "(?i)\.dll\,(RS32|VirtualAllocEx|NtUnmapViewOfSection|CreateRemoteThread|RtlCreateUserThread|DeviceIoControl|WriteProcessMemory|CryptEncrypt|CryptDecrypt|RegSetValueEx|SetWindowsHookEx|DLLRegisterServer)")
| table _time, host, user, process, process_*, parent_process, parent_process_*,
called_function | bin span=1s | stats values(*) as * by _time, host '
techniques:
- defense-evasion:system binary proxy execution:rundll32
technique_id:
- T1218.011
data_category:
- PowerShell logs
references:
- https://redcanary.com/blog/lolbins-abuse/
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4104) OR "<EventID>4104<") ".dll" ("RS32" OR "VirtualAllocEx" OR "NtUnmapViewOfSection" OR "CreateRemoteThread" OR "RtlCreateUserThread" OR "DeviceIoControl" OR "WriteProcessMemory" OR "CryptEncrypt" OR "CryptDecrypt" OR "RegSetValueEx" OR "SetWindowsHookEx" OR "DLLRegisterServer")
Stage 2: rex
| rex field=process "\.dll,(?<called_function>[^\s]+)"
Stage 3: where
| where match(process, "(?i)\.dll\,(RS32|VirtualAllocEx|NtUnmapViewOfSection|CreateRemoteThread|RtlCreateUserThread|DeviceIoControl|WriteProcessMemory|CryptEncrypt|CryptDecrypt|RegSetValueEx|SetWindowsHookEx|DLLRegisterServer)")
Stage 4: table
| table _time, host, user, process, process_*, parent_process, parent_process_*, called_function
Stage 5: bucket
| bin span=1s
Stage 6: stats
| stats values(*) as * by _time, host
Indicators
These rows show field, operator, and value matches.
| Field | Kind | Values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
EventCode | eq |
| field:"EventID" kind:eq value:"4104" |
process | regex_match |
| field:"CommandLine" kind:regex_match |
Search terms
These SPL tokens match against raw event text.
| Stage | Term |
|---|---|
| 1 | "<EventID>4104<" |
| 1 | ".dll" |
| 1 | "RS32" |
| 1 | "VirtualAllocEx" |
| 1 | "NtUnmapViewOfSection" |
| 1 | "CreateRemoteThread" |
| 1 | "RtlCreateUserThread" |
| 1 | "DeviceIoControl" |
| 1 | "WriteProcessMemory" |
| 1 | "CryptEncrypt" |
| 1 | "CryptDecrypt" |
| 1 | "RegSetValueEx" |
| 1 | "SetWindowsHookEx" |
| 1 | "DLLRegisterServer" |