Suspicious DLL Sideloading via OneDriveStandaloneUpdater (via image_load)

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
image_load
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-27
Updated
2026-10-27

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the legitimate OneDriveStandaloneUpdater binary loading a winhttp.dll from outside the System32 directory, matching the DLL sideloading technique used by the STAC5777 threat cluster to run a keylogging and credential theft payload. The malicious DLL is staged in an AppData Local OneDriveUpdate folder to masquerade as a trusted update component.

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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.