Suspicious McAfee DLL Sideload via mcods Process Creation

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 McAfee mcods.exe binary running from outside its standard installation directory. Attackers targeting industrial organizations plant mcods.exe alongside a malicious McVsoCfg.dll to sideload their loader via the McVsoCfgGetObject export, abusing a trusted signed process for execution and persistence.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious McAfee DLL Sideload via mcods Process Creation

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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