Sigma rule: Suspicious Usage Of ShellExec_RunDLL

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-f81526bdf9e9, updated 2022-12-30T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Usage Of ShellExec_RunDLL
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2022-09-01
Modified
2022-12-30
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_susp_shellexec_execution.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious usage of the ShellExec_RunDLL function to launch other commands as seen in the the raspberry-robin attack

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_openasrundll:
    CommandLine|contains: 'ShellExec_RunDLL'
selection_suspcli:
    CommandLine|contains:
        # Note: The ordinal number may differ depending on the DLL version
        - '\Desktop\'
        - '\Temp\'
        - '\Users\Public\'
        - 'comspec'
        - 'iex'
        - 'Invoke-'
        - 'msiexec'
        - 'odbcconf'
        - 'regsvr32'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.stealth

Related rules

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_shellexec_execution.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Usage Of ShellExec_RunDLL" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_rundll32_susp_shellexec_execution.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 Usage Of ShellExec_RunDLL",
entity page, dataset version ref-f81526bdf9e9, updated 2022-12-30T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/d87bd452-6da1-456e-8155-7dc988157b7d (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule d87bd452-6da1-456e-8155-7dc988157b7d, 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.