Suspicious Ahnenblatt Application Execution From User-Writable Directory

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 the legitimate Ahnenblatt genealogy application Ahnenblatt4.exe running from a Temp or AppData directory. In the RenEngine campaign this signed application was abused as a DLL side-loading host by dropping it next to malicious borlndmm.dll and cc32290mt.dll to launch HijackLoader as reported by Kaspersky. Execution of this uncommon application from a user-writable path signals a DLL search-order hijack rather than normal use.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Ahnenblatt Application Execution From User-Writable Directory

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.

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