Suspicious Vulnerable Driver googleapiutil64.sys Loaded for BYOVD

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
driver_load
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-02
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

  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 loading of a driver named googleapiutil64.sys, a renamed vulnerable Baidu antivirus driver deployed by Warlock ransomware operators to disable security tooling via Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver. The filename masquerades as a legitimate Google component.

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange
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Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion Added via PowerShell via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Malicious TCC AppleEvents Reset via Tccutil
Suspicious ESXi Management Agent Stop via vpxa init Script (via process_creation)
Malicious ESXi Firewall Disable via esxcli (via process_creation)
Malicious ESXi Syslog Redirection to tmp via esxcli
Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion Enumeration via reg query (via process_creation)
Malicious Windows Defender Exclusion Added via PowerShell (via process_creation)
Malicious BYOVD EDR Kill via Renamed GMER Driver by Agonizing Serpens
Suspicious Vulnerable Driver googleapiutil64.sys Loaded for BYOVD
Pivot detection · T1685 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.