Malicious APT29 WINELOADER DLL Side-Load of vcruntime140.dll via SqlDumper (via image_load)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1574.001DLL
Persistence
- T1574.001DLL
Priv Esc
- T1574.001DLL
Defense Evasion
- T1574.001DLL
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the Microsoft SqlDumper.exe binary loading a vcruntime140.dll from a non-standard directory, the side-load chain APT29 used to run the WINELOADER backdoor. The actor paired a legitimate signed executable with a malicious runtime DLL to gain trusted execution. SqlDumper loading vcruntime140.dll outside canonical install paths is a high-fidelity side-loading indicator.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious APT29 WINELOADER DLL Side-Load of vcruntime140.dll via SqlDumper (via image_load)

Pivot detection · T1574.001 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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