Suspicious wmicodegen.dll Sideload by inetinfo.exe (UAT-8099 Cobalt Strike)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → C2

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
- T1071.001Web Protocols
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the IIS process inetinfo.exe loading wmicodegen.dll, a DLL sideloading technique UAT-8099 uses to run Cobalt Strike on compromised web servers. The inetinfo.exe process has no legitimate reason to load this library. This load indicates in-memory beacon deployment via search-order hijacking.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious wmicodegen.dll Sideload by inetinfo.exe (UAT-8099 Cobalt Strike)

Pivot detection · T1071.001 · 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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