Sigma rule: Suspicious Control Panel DLL Load

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-9b575af650cf, updated 2023-02-09T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Control Panel DLL Load
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2017-04-15
Modified
2023-02-09
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_susp_control_dll_load.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious Rundll32 execution from control.exe as used by Equation Group and Exploit Kits

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_parent:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\System32\control.exe'
selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'RUNDLL32.EXE'
filter:
    CommandLine|contains: 'Shell32.dll'
condition: all of selection_* and not filter

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1218.011

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/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_susp_control_dll_load.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Control Panel DLL Load" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_susp_control_dll_load.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: Suspicious Control Panel DLL Load",
entity page, dataset version ref-9b575af650cf, updated 2023-02-09T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/d7eb979b-c2b5-4a6f-a3a7-c87ce6763819 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule d7eb979b-c2b5-4a6f-a3a7-c87ce6763819, 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.