Windows DLL Sideloading via mfdetours.dll using mftrace.exe

Alerts on mfdetours.dll loads that may indicate DLL sideloading outside the expected Windows Kits location.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v2

Product: windows
Category: image_load
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2023-08-03
Updated: 2026-07-31

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 flags Windows processes that load a DLL named mfdetours.dll from locations other than a known legitimate Windows Kits path. Attackers can abuse mftrace.exe to attach to an arbitrary process and force it to load mfdetours.dll from the current directory, enabling DLL sideloading for persistence, privilege escalation, or stealth. The detection relies on image load telemetry indicating when mfdetours.dll is loaded and uses path filtering to reduce likely benign matches.

Reporting behind it

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Windows DLL Sideloading via mfdetours.dll using mftrace.exe

Pivot detection · T1574.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
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.

windows-dll-sideloading-via-mfdetours-dll-loaded-from-current-directory-d2605a99

title: Windows DLL Sideloading via mfdetours.dll using mftrace.exe
id: cac88179-d22e-4308-bea4-f4ae25464b8b
status: test
description: This rule flags Windows processes that load a DLL named mfdetours.dll from locations other than a known legitimate Windows Kits path. Attackers can abuse mftrace.exe to attach to an arbitrary process and force it to load mfdetours.dll from the current directory, enabling DLL sideloading for persistence, privilege escalation, or stealth. The detection relies on image load telemetry indicating when mfdetours.dll is loaded and uses path filtering to reduce likely benign matches.
references:
  - Internal Research
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/image_load/image_load_side_load_mfdetours.yml
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2023-08-03
tags:
  - attack.persistence
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.execution
  - attack.stealth
  - attack.t1574.001
logsource:
  category: image_load
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    ImageLoaded|endswith: \mfdetours.dll
  filter_main_legit_path:
    ImageLoaded|contains: :\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\
  condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
  - Unlikely
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: d2605a99-2218-4894-8fd3-2afb7946514d
    type: derived

Convert

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