Potentially Suspicious Volume Shadow Copy Vsstrace.dll Load (via image_load)

title: Potentially Suspicious Volume Shadow Copy Vsstrace.dll Load (via image_load)
id: 838924c9-67c9-5a34-8c88-bf347909c632
status: stable
description: This rule detects the image load of VSS DLL by uncommon executables
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1490/
    - https://github.com/ORCx41/DeleteShadowCopies
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-05-22
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1490
logsource:
    category: image_load
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        ImageLoaded|endswith: '\vsstrace.dll'
    filter_main_windows:
        - Image:
              - 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe'
              - 'C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.exe'
        - Image|startswith:
              - 'C:\Windows\System32\'
              - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\'
              - 'C:\Windows\Temp\{'
              - 'C:\Windows\WinSxS\'
              - 'C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{'
    filter_main_program_files:
        Image|startswith:
            - 'C:\Program Files\'
            - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\'
    filter_optional_recovery:
        Image|startswith: 'C:\$WinREAgent\Scratch\'
    filter_main_null_image:
        Image:
    filter_optional_avira:
        Image|contains|all:
            - '\temp\is-'
            - '\avira_system_speedup.tmp'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium