Execution via local SxS Shared Module

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/10/28"
 3integration = ["endpoint", "windows"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5min_stack_comments = "New fields added: required_fields, related_integrations, setup"
 6min_stack_version = "8.3.0"
 7updated_date = "2024/03/28"
 8
 9[rule]
10author = ["Elastic"]
11description = """
12Identifies the creation, change, or deletion of a DLL module within a Windows SxS local folder. Adversaries may abuse
13shared modules to execute malicious payloads by instructing the Windows module loader to load DLLs from arbitrary local
14paths.
15"""
16from = "now-9m"
17index = ["winlogbeat-*", "logs-endpoint.events.file-*", "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*", "endgame-*"]
18language = "eql"
19license = "Elastic License v2"
20name = "Execution via local SxS Shared Module"
21note = """## Triage and analysis
22
23The SxS DotLocal folder is a legitimate feature that can be abused to hijack standard modules loading order by forcing an executable on the same application.exe.local folder to load a malicious DLL module from the same directory.
24"""
25references = ["https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-link-library-redirection"]
26risk_score = 47
27rule_id = "a3ea12f3-0d4e-4667-8b44-4230c63f3c75"
28setup = """## Setup
29
30If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2,
31events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until version 8.2.
32Hence for this rule to work effectively, users will need to add a custom ingest pipeline to populate
33`event.ingested` to @timestamp.
34For more details on adding a custom ingest pipeline refer - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/data-streams-pipeline-tutorial.html
35"""
36severity = "medium"
37tags = ["Domain: Endpoint", "OS: Windows", "Use Case: Threat Detection", "Tactic: Execution", "Data Source: Elastic Endgame", "Data Source: Elastic Defend", "Data Source: Sysmon"]
38timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
39type = "eql"
40
41query = '''
42file where host.os.type == "windows" and file.extension : "dll" and file.path : "C:\\*\\*.exe.local\\*.dll"
43'''
44
45
46[[rule.threat]]
47framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
48[[rule.threat.technique]]
49id = "T1129"
50name = "Shared Modules"
51reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1129/"
52
53
54[rule.threat.tactic]
55id = "TA0002"
56name = "Execution"
57reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"