Sigma rule: Potential Rundll32 Execution With DLL Stored In ADS

Rule

Title

Potential Rundll32 Execution With DLL Stored In ADS

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Harjot Singh, '@cyb3rjy0t'

Date

2023-01-21

Modified

2026-03-16

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_ads_stored_dll_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of rundll32 where the DLL being called is stored in an Alternate Data Stream (ADS).

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'RUNDLL32.EXE'
selection_cli:
    # Example:
    #   rundll32 "C:\ads\file.txt:ADSDLL.dll",DllMain
    # Note: This doesn't cover the use case where a full path for the DLL isn't used. As it requires a more expensive regex
    CommandLine|re: '[Rr][Uu][Nn][Dd][Ll][Ll]32(?:\.[Ee][Xx][Ee])? \S+?\w:\S+?:'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1564.004

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1564.004

References

• https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Rundll32

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_ads_stored_dll_execution.yml