Malicious PlugX DLL Sideloading via Canon cnmpaui Utility (via image_load)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1574.001DLL
Persistence
- T1574.001DLL
Priv Esc
- T1055Process Injection
- T1574.001DLL
Defense Evasion
- T1055Process Injection
- T1574.001DLL
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the legitimate Canon cnmpaui.exe utility loading a cnmpaui.dll from a user AppData Roaming directory. UNC6384 abused DLL search-order sideloading with this signed Canon binary to load a malicious loader that decrypted and ran PlugX.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious PlugX DLL Sideloading via Canon cnmpaui Utility (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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