Sigma rule: Suspicious Rundll32 Setupapi.dll Activity

Rule

Title

Suspicious Rundll32 Setupapi.dll Activity

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Konstantin Grishchenko, oscd.community

Date

2020-10-07

Modified

2021-11-27

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_setupapi_installhinfsection.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

setupapi.dll library provide InstallHinfSection function for processing INF files. INF file may contain instructions allowing to create values in the registry, modify files and install drivers. This technique could be used to obtain persistence via modifying one of Run or RunOnce registry keys, run process or use other DLLs chain calls (see references) InstallHinfSection function in setupapi.dll calls runonce.exe executable regardless of actual content of INF file.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\runonce.exe'
    ParentImage|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
    ParentCommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'setupapi.dll'
        - 'InstallHinfSection'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Scripts and administrative tools that use INF files for driver installation with setupapi.dll

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1218.011

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1218.011

References

• https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Libraries/Setupapi/
• https://gist.githubusercontent.com/bohops/0cc6586f205f3691e04a1ebf1806aabd/raw/baf7b29891bb91e76198e30889fbf7d6642e8974/calc_exe.inf
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huntresslabs/evading-autoruns/master/shady.inf
• https://twitter.com/Z3Jpa29z/status/1313742350292746241?s=20

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_setupapi_installhinfsection.yml