Malicious DLL Side-Loading via 7z or clink Loaders

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 7z or clink binaries side-loading their companion DLLs from non-standard locations. Project AK47 abuses 7z.exe with a malicious 7z.dll and clink_x86.exe with clink_dll_x86.dll to execute payloads under trusted binaries. Loading these DLLs outside their normal install directories indicates search-order hijacking.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious DLL Side-Loading via 7z or clink Loaders

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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