Suspicious TermService ServiceDll Hijack via Registry (via registry_set)

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1543.003Windows Service
Priv Esc
- T1543.003Windows Service
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1021.001Remote Desktop Protocol
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects modification of the TermService ServiceDll registry value used to hijack the Remote Desktop service host. The RATatouille intrusion repoints this value to a malicious DLL so its code loads inside the legitimate service for stealthy persistence and remote access. Overwriting the TermService ServiceDll is rarely legitimate and strongly indicates a service DLL hijack.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1543.003 — drag to rearrange

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Possible Driver Enumeration via Driverquery for Rootkit Discovery

Suspicious TermService ServiceDll Hijack via Registry (via registry_set)

Pivot detection · T1543.003 · 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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