Malicious Vulnerable Driver Load for BYOVD Defense Evasion (via image_load)

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
image_load
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-18
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects loading of the rwdrv.sys, hlpdrv.sys and churchill_driver.sys kernel drivers abused in bring-your-own-vulnerable-driver attacks. Akira ransomware operators loaded these drivers to disable endpoint protection and tamper with security product access controls prior to encryption.

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In-Memory AMSI or ETW Bypass in PowerShell (via process_creation)
Malicious Microsoft Defender Critical Security Components Disabled - Command (via process_creation)
Malicious Vulnerable Driver Load for BYOVD Defense Evasion (via image_load)
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.