Sigma rule: Svchost DLL Search Order Hijack

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-a110e764561c, updated 2024-01-10T00:00:00.000Z.

SigmaHQ marks this rule as deprecated.

Rule

Title
Svchost DLL Search Order Hijack
Status
deprecated
Level
high
Author
SBousseaden
Date
2019/10/28
Modified
2024/01/10
File
deprecated/windows/image_load_side_load_svchost_dlls.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects DLL sideloading of DLLs that are loaded by the SCM for some services (IKE, IKEEXT, SessionEnv) which do not exists on a typical modern system
IKEEXT and SessionEnv service, as they call LoadLibrary on files that do not exist within C:\Windows\System32\ by default.
An attacker can place their malicious logic within the PROCESS_ATTACH block of their library and restart the aforementioned services "svchost.exe -k netsvcs" to gain code execution on a remote machine.

Log source

product
windows
category
image_load

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\svchost.exe'
    ImageLoaded|endswith:
        - '\tsmsisrv.dll'
        - '\tsvipsrv.dll'
        - '\wlbsctrl.dll'
filter:
    ImageLoaded|startswith: 'C:\Windows\WinSxS\'
condition: selection and not filter

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.persistence
  • attack.defense_evasion
  • attack.t1574.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

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

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Svchost DLL Search Order Hijack" by SBousseaden (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/deprecated/windows/image_load_side_load_svchost_dlls.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: Svchost DLL Search Order Hijack",
entity page, dataset version ref-a110e764561c, updated 2024-01-10T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/602a1f13-c640-4d73-b053-be9a2fa58b77 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 602a1f13-c640-4d73-b053-be9a2fa58b77, 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.