Detection rules › Splunk
Windows Known GraphicalProton Loaded Modules
The following analytic detects the loading of DLL modules associated with the GraphicalProton backdoor implant, commonly used by SVR in targeted attacks. It leverages Sysmon EventCode 7 to identify specific DLLs loaded by processes. This activity is significant as it may indicate the presence of a sophisticated backdoor, warranting immediate investigation. If confirmed malicious, the attacker could gain persistent access to the compromised host, potentially leading to further exploitation and data exfiltration.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1574.001 Hijack Execution Flow: DLL |
| Stealth | T1574.001 Hijack Execution Flow: DLL |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 7 | Image loaded |
Rule body splunk
name: Windows Known GraphicalProton Loaded Modules
id: bf471c94-0324-4b19-a113-d02749b969bc
version: 13
creation_date: '2024-01-10'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects the loading of DLL modules associated with the GraphicalProton backdoor implant, commonly used by SVR in targeted attacks. It leverages Sysmon EventCode 7 to identify specific DLLs loaded by processes. This activity is significant as it may indicate the presence of a sophisticated backdoor, warranting immediate investigation. If confirmed malicious, the attacker could gain persistent access to the compromised host, potentially leading to further exploitation and data exfiltration.
data_source:
- Sysmon EventID 7
search: '`sysmon` EventCode=7 ImageLoaded IN ("*\\AclNumsInvertHost.dll", "*\\ModeBitmapNumericAnimate.dll", "*\\UnregisterAncestorAppendAuto.dll", "*\\DeregisterSeekUsers.dll", "*\\ScrollbarHandleGet.dll", "*\\PerformanceCaptionApi.dll", "*\\WowIcmpRemoveReg.dll", "*\\BlendMonitorStringBuild.dll", "*\\HandleFrequencyAll.dll", "*\\HardSwapColor.dll", "*\\LengthInMemoryActivate.dll", "*\\ParametersNamesPopup.dll", "*\\ModeFolderSignMove.dll", "*\\ChildPaletteConnected.dll", "*\\AddressResourcesSpec.dll") | fillnull | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by Image ImageLoaded dest loaded_file loaded_file_path original_file_name process_exec process_guid process_hash process_id process_name process_path service_dll_signature_exists service_dll_signature_verified signature signature_id user_id vendor_product | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_known_graphicalproton_loaded_modules_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name and imageloaded executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
- https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-347a
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
intermediate_findings:
entities:
- field: dest
type: system
score: 20
message: Windows Known GraphicalProton backdoor Loaded Modules on $dest$.
analytic_story:
- Hellcat Ransomware
- CISA AA23-347A
- Water Gamayun
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
- T1574.001
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1574.002/svr_loaded_modules/loaded_module_svr.log
source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
test_type: unit
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`sysmon` EventCode=7 ImageLoaded IN ("*\\AclNumsInvertHost.dll", "*\\ModeBitmapNumericAnimate.dll", "*\\UnregisterAncestorAppendAuto.dll", "*\\DeregisterSeekUsers.dll", "*\\ScrollbarHandleGet.dll", "*\\PerformanceCaptionApi.dll", "*\\WowIcmpRemoveReg.dll", "*\\BlendMonitorStringBuild.dll", "*\\HandleFrequencyAll.dll", "*\\HardSwapColor.dll", "*\\LengthInMemoryActivate.dll", "*\\ParametersNamesPopup.dll", "*\\ModeFolderSignMove.dll", "*\\ChildPaletteConnected.dll", "*\\AddressResourcesSpec.dll")
Stage 2: fillnull
| fillnull
Stage 3: stats
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by Image ImageLoaded dest loaded_file loaded_file_path original_file_name process_exec process_guid process_hash process_id process_name process_path service_dll_signature_exists service_dll_signature_verified signature signature_id user_id vendor_product
Stage 4: search
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
Stage 5: search
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
Stage 6: search
| `windows_known_graphicalproton_loaded_modules_filter`
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.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
EventCode | eq |
|
ImageLoaded | in |
|