Renamed DLL Sideloading of TOTPGuard via Renamed Setup Binary in Nimbus Manticore Chain (via image_load)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- image_load
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-09-01
- Updated
- 2026-09-01
ATT&CK techniques
Execution → Defense EvasionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects a setup.exe process loading TOTPGuard.dll, the AppDomain-hijacking DLL sideloading pair used by Nimbus Manticore to run a decrypted native implant from a renamed Microsoft Visual Studio host binary. Adversaries leverage sideloading through a signed executable to execute malicious code under a trusted process, making early detection critical for surfacing the infection chain before beacon establishment.
Reporting behind it
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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Also included
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