Malicious WindowsCodecs.dll Side-Loaded by calc.exe (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 ITG05 Headlace packaging a renamed calc.exe with a malicious WindowsCodecs.dll so the trusted binary side-loads attacker code. The genuine WindowsCodecs.dll loads only from system directories, so a load from another folder is anomalous. The hijacked DLL executes the hidden Headlace payload.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1574.001 — drag to rearrange

Malicious NsBars.dll Side-Loaded by Textoescritor.exe (via image_load)

Malicious version.dll Side-Loaded by explorer.exe (via image_load)

Suspicious DLL Sideloading via FMAPP Executable from Non-Standard Path via process_creation

Suspicious App Domain Manager Injection via Environment Variables

Suspicious Svchost Execution from Non-System Path

Suspicious jli.dll Sideloading by Non-Java Trusted Binary

Malicious DLL Sideload via SentinelBrowserNativeHost

Suspicious version.dll Sideloading via ADExplorer

Suspicious Application Config File Dropped Beside Trusted .NET Binary for App Domain Manager Injection

Malicious WindowsCodecs.dll Side-Loaded by calc.exe (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.

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →