Sigma rule: Potential COLDSTEEL Persistence Service DLL Load

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-1122e2f207c1, updated 2023-05-02T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potential COLDSTEEL Persistence Service DLL Load
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-05-02
File
rules-emerging-threats/2023/Malware/COLDSTEEL/image_load_malware_coldsteel_persistence_service_dll.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a suspicious DLL load by an "svchost" process based on location and name that might be related to ColdSteel RAT. This DLL location and name has been seen used by ColdSteel as the service DLL for its persistence mechanism

Log source

product
windows
category
image_load

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\svchost.exe'
    ImageLoaded|endswith: '\AppData\Roaming\newdev.dll'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unlikely

Tags

  • attack.persistence
  • detection.emerging-threats
  • attack.stealth

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules-emerging-threats/2023/Malware/COLDSTEEL/image_load_malware_coldsteel_persistence_service_dll.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potential COLDSTEEL Persistence Service DLL Load" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules-emerging-threats/2023/Malware/COLDSTEEL/image_load_malware_coldsteel_persistence_service_dll.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Potential COLDSTEEL Persistence Service DLL Load",
entity page, dataset version ref-1122e2f207c1, updated 2023-05-02T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/1d7a57da-02e0-4f7f-92b1-c7b486ccfed5 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 1d7a57da-02e0-4f7f-92b1-c7b486ccfed5, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.