huntrule

Windows: Unsigned DLL/EXE Image Loaded Into lsass.exe

Alerts on image loads into lsass.exe where the loaded image is unsigned.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v2
Product
windows
Category
image_load
Author
Teymur Kheirkhabarov, oscd.community (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2019-10-22
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access

  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

Identifies cases where an image (DLL or EXE) is loaded into the lsass.exe process and the image is flagged as unsigned. Loading unsigned binaries into LSASS is a critical credential-access target and can indicate credential dumping or other process injection behavior. The rule relies on Windows image load telemetry that includes the target image path ending in \lsass.exe and a signed/unsigned indicator.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1003.001 — drag to rearrange
Malicious WDigest Credential Caching Enabled via Registry (via registry_set)
Malicious Credential Dumping via Mimikatz Sekurlsa Command
Malicious Mimikatz Sekurlsa Logonpasswords Credential Dump
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump via ProcDump (via process_creation)
Malicious LSASS Memory Dump via comsvcs.dll by Salt Typhoon
Malicious LSASS Dump via Process Access (via process_access)
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump with LSASSY - Process (via process_creation)
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump with LSASSY - Admin Share (via security)
Malicious Task Manager Used for LSASS Dump - Kernel (via security)
Windows: Unsigned DLL/EXE Image Loaded Into lsass.exe
Pivot detection · T1003.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
  1. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v1
    No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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