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Windows: rundll32.exe spawning explorer.exe child process (shell32.Control_RunDLL)

Alerts on rundll32.exe spawning explorer.exe, an uncommon child process pattern that may indicate stealthy execution via shell components.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
elhoim, CD_ROM_ (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2022-04-27
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

  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

This rule flags executions where rundll32.exe spawns explorer.exe as a child process. Such a process tree is uncommon and can indicate attempts to launch a user-facing interface or mask execution through Windows shell components. It relies on process creation telemetry, matching on parent process image ending in rundll32.exe and child process image ending in explorer.exe, while excluding cases where the parent command line contains the specific shell32.dll Control_RunDLL string.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218.011 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Lunar Spider Loader Execution via rundll32 (via process_creation)
Malicious SYSTEM Persistence via Scheduled Task Running rundll32 at Startup (via process_creation)
Malicious Rundll32 Executing Image File as DLL
Suspicious Scheduled Task Executing Rundll32 DLL Export by Ordinal
Malicious Renamed Rundll32 Copied to Temp via Xcopy
Suspicious rundll32 Executing DLL from ProgramData (via process_creation)
Suspicious Rundll32 Loading DLL From Public or ProgramData Path via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Malicious LSASS Credential Dump via Rundll32 Comsvcs MiniDump via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Suspicious Rundll32 Execution Without a DLL Reference via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Windows: rundll32.exe spawning explorer.exe child process (shell32.Control_RunDLL)
Pivot detection · T1218.011 · 9 related

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