Windows Process Memory Dump via comsvcs.dll using rundll32

Alert on rundll32 loading comsvcs.dll with arguments consistent with a full process memory dump.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Modexp, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-02-18
Updated
2026-07-30

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion → Cred Access
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows process executions where rundll32 loads comsvcs.dll to trigger a full process memory dump. Attackers use this technique to obtain sensitive in-memory data, supporting credential theft and other post-exploitation objectives. The detection relies on process creation telemetry, specifically the image name/original filename and command-line strings indicating comsvcs full dump behavior (including ordinal/function arguments).

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Pivot detection · T1003.001 · 9 related

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