Suspicious DLL Execution via rundll32 from PerfLogs Directory

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1218.011Rundll32
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects rundll32 loading a DLL from the C:\PerfLogs directory, observed in the Netscaler intrusion where the actor ran ch.dll,Start from PerfLogs. PerfLogs is not a normal location for executable DLLs, so rundll32 invocation against it strongly indicates proxied malicious code execution.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218.011 — drag to rearrange

Malicious DarkMe COM Object Execution via rundll32 CLSID

Suspicious rundll32 Control_RunDLL DLL Execution

Malicious FrostyNeighbor ViberPC Renamed Rundll32 DLL Execution

Malicious Rundll32 notepad2 DLL Proxy Execution

Suspicious rundll32 Execution of PNG File as DLL

Malicious Interlock LNK Execution via rundll32 ShellExec_RunDLL

Malicious Hunters International Ransomware Execution via rundll32

Malicious Rundll32 Loading Update DLL from AppData Custom_update with scab Export

Malicious Rundll32 Executing Svchost-Masquerading DLL via Command Line

Suspicious DLL Execution via rundll32 from PerfLogs Directory

Pivot detection · T1218.011 · 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 →