Malicious PPL Abuse via ClipUp Protected Process Launch

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 ClipUp.exe utility launched with a protected process light argument, the technique RONINGLOADER uses to spawn a signed binary as a PPL and disable Microsoft Defender. Abusing ClipUp to obtain a protected process lets the loader tamper with security services that normally block it.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious ESXi Management Agent Stop via vpxa init Script (via process_creation)

Malicious ESXi Firewall Disable via esxcli (via process_creation)

Malicious PPL Abuse via ClipUp Protected Process Launch

Pivot detection · T1685 · 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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