PowerShell Reflective Shellcode Loader via Dynamic API Delegates (via ps_script)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1620Reflective Code Loading
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a PowerShell Cobalt Strike loader that resolves Windows APIs through reflection helper functions and allocates executable memory before copying and running shellcode. Adversaries leverage dynamic delegate creation and VirtualAlloc to execute a beacon in memory while avoiding static API imports.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

Obfuscated XE Group Reflective Loader via PowerShell Spawned by IIS Worker Process (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Reflective Assembly Load Invoking VAI Method (via process_creation)

Windows PowerShell: Base64 Encoded Reflective .NET Assembly Load

PowerShell Script Block WinAPI Calls Indicative of Injection or Token Abuse (Windows)

Suspicious Scheduled Task Running PowerShell Every Minute (via process_creation)

Malicious Script Host Spawning PowerShell With Invoke-Expression (via process_creation)

Hidden PowerShell Archive Extraction via ExtractToDirectory

CastleLoader ClickFix PowerShell Hex Decode and Re-Execution

Malicious Non-Interactive Encoded PowerShell Stager (via process_creation)

PowerShell Reflective Shellcode Loader via Dynamic API Delegates (via ps_script)

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 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 →