Suspicious DLL Search Order Hijack of clip.exe or wsmprovhost.exe (via image_load)

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 trusted binaries clip.exe or wsmprovhost.exe loading Version.dll or DSROLE.dll from a location outside the Windows system directories. North Korean actors abused DLL search-order hijacking against these binaries to execute their payload under a trusted process.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious DLL Search Order Hijack of clip.exe or wsmprovhost.exe (via image_load)

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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