Windows Maldoc Process Injection via winword.exe CallTrace from LittleCorporal

Flags winword.exe process injection where the call trace matches LittleCorporal-generated Maldoc activity on Windows.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Category: process_access
Author: Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2021-08-09
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1204.002Malicious File
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1055.003Thread Execution Hijacking
Defense Evasion
- T1055.003Thread Execution Hijacking
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags process injection activity where the source process is winword.exe and the call stack contains a .NET Framework64 v2 path alongside an UNKNOWN marker. This pattern is associated with maldoc-driven injection generated by the LittleCorporal tool, where an attacker attempts to run malicious code inside a trusted Office process. The detection relies on process access telemetry capturing the injecting source image and call trace contents.

Reporting behind it

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Windows Maldoc Process Injection via winword.exe CallTrace from LittleCorporal

Pivot detection · T1204.002 · 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-process-injection-triggered-by-winword-exe-from-littlecorporal-maldoc-7bdde3bf

title: Windows Maldoc Process Injection via winword.exe CallTrace from LittleCorporal
id: 06f1741f-aa9f-4381-9681-f398becbac45
status: test
description: This rule flags process injection activity where the source process is winword.exe and the call stack contains a .NET Framework64 v2 path alongside an UNKNOWN marker. This pattern is associated with maldoc-driven injection generated by the LittleCorporal tool, where an attacker attempts to run malicious code inside a trusted Office process. The detection relies on process access telemetry capturing the injecting source image and call trace contents.
references:
  - https://github.com/connormcgarr/LittleCorporal
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_access/proc_access_win_hktl_littlecorporal_generated_maldoc.yml
author: Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2021-08-09
modified: 2023-11-28
tags:
  - attack.execution
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.stealth
  - attack.t1204.002
  - attack.t1055.003
logsource:
  category: process_access
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    SourceImage|endswith: \winword.exe
    CallTrace|contains|all:
      - :\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.
      - UNKNOWN
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 7bdde3bf-2a42-4c39-aa31-a92b3e17afac
    type: derived

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