Sigma rule: Potential Goopdate.DLL Sideloading

Rule

Title

Potential Goopdate.DLL Sideloading

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

X__Junior (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-05-15

Modified

2025-10-07

File

rules/windows/image_load/image_load_side_load_goopdate.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential DLL sideloading of "goopdate.dll", a DLL used by googleupdate.exe

Log source

product

windows

category

image_load

Detection

selection:
    ImageLoaded|endswith: '\goopdate.dll'
filter_main_generic:
    ImageLoaded|startswith:
        # Many third party chromium based apps use this DLLs. It's better to create a baseline and add specific filters
        - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\'
        - 'C:\Program Files\'
filter_optional_dropbox_installer_temp:
    Image|contains|all:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\GUM'
        - '.tmp\Dropbox'
    ImageLoaded|contains|all:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\GUM'
        - '.tmp\goopdate.dll'
filter_optional_googleupdate_temp:
    Image|contains:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\GUM'
        - ':\Windows\SystemTemp\GUM'
    Image|endswith: '.tmp\GoogleUpdate.exe'
    ImageLoaded|contains:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\GUM'
        - ':\Windows\SystemTemp\GUM'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• False positives are expected from Google Chrome installations running from user locations (AppData) and other custom locations. Apply additional filters accordingly.
• Other third party chromium browsers located in AppData

Tags

• attack.persistence
• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.execution
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1574.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1574.001

References

• https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/static-assets/documents/malware-analysis-reports/goofy-guineapig/NCSC-MAR-Goofy-Guineapig.pdf

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/image_load/image_load_side_load_goopdate.yml