Windows Image Load of System.Drawing.ni.dll

Alerts when a Windows process loads System.Drawing.ni.dll, which may indicate visual data collection activity.

FreeReviewedSigma · Low · v5

Product: windows
Category: image_load
Author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Collection

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
- T1113Screen Capture
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags processes that load the DLL file named System.Drawing.ni.dll. Attackers can use such image-load behavior as part of screen capture or collection tooling that relies on .NET drawing components. The detection relies on Windows image load telemetry that records the full DLL path or filename, matching entries that end with \System.Drawing.ni.dll.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Screen Capture via PowerShell Graphics API (via process_creation)

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Windows Registry: EnablePeriodicBackup value set for periodic system hive backups

Windows Recall Enabled by Deleting DisableAIDataAnalysis Registry Value

Windows Recall Enabled by Registry: DisableAIDataAnalysis Set to 0 (Windows)

Windows Image Load of System.Drawing.ni.dll

Pivot detection · T1113 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v4
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v3
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
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-loads-system-drawing-ni-dll-666ecfc7

title: Windows Image Load of System.Drawing.ni.dll
id: 033b6e8f-6327-4672-a278-6d00c1e2acb8
status: test
description: This rule flags processes that load the DLL file named System.Drawing.ni.dll. Attackers can use such image-load behavior as part of screen capture or collection tooling that relies on .NET drawing components. The detection relies on Windows image load telemetry that records the full DLL path or filename, matching entries that end with \System.Drawing.ni.dll.
references:
  - https://github.com/OTRF/detection-hackathon-apt29/issues/16
  - https://github.com/OTRF/ThreatHunter-Playbook/blob/2d4257f630f4c9770f78d0c1df059f891ffc3fec/docs/evals/apt29/detections/7.A.1_3B4E5808-3C71-406A-B181-17B0CE3178C9.md
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules-threat-hunting/windows/image_load/image_load_dll_system_drawing_load.yml
author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research), Huntrule Team
date: 2020-05-02
modified: 2023-02-22
tags:
  - attack.collection
  - attack.t1113
  - detection.threat-hunting
logsource:
  product: windows
  category: image_load
detection:
  selection:
    ImageLoaded|endswith: \System.Drawing.ni.dll
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - False positives are very common from system and third party applications, activity needs to be investigated. This rule is best correlated with other events to increase the level of suspiciousness
level: low
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 666ecfc7-229d-42b8-821e-1a8f8cb7057c
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

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