Individual skill

detecting-dll-sideloading-attacks

Detect DLL side-loading attacks where adversaries place malicious DLLs alongside legitimate applications to hijack execution flow for defense evasion.

internal/tools/skills/data/threat-hunting/detecting-dll-sideloading-attacks/SKILL.md

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Repository stars (not skill ratings): 1,313
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cybersecurity Repository topic
security Repository topic
bug-bounty Repository topic
automation Repository topic
autonomous-pentesting Repository topic
ai-agent Repository topic
ai-security Repository topic
ethical-hacking Repository topic
golang Repository topic
penetration-testing Repository topic
threat-hunting Declared skill tag
mitre-attack Declared skill tag
dll-sideloading Declared skill tag
defense-evasion Declared skill tag
t1574 Declared skill tag
edr Declared skill tag
proactive-detection Declared skill tag
security Derived category

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# Detecting DLL Sideloading Attacks

## When to Use

- When investigating potential DLL hijacking in enterprise environments
- After EDR alerts on unsigned DLLs loaded by signed applications
- When hunting for APT persistence using legitimate application wrappers
- During incident response to identify trojanized applications
- When threat intel indicates DLL sideloading campaigns targeting specific software

## Detection Gaps & Validation

- **EID 7 is often filtered off.** Sysmon Image Load logging is high-volume and many configs (even SwiftOnSecurity) exclude common signers or whole processes. Confirm ImageLoaded is enabled and your target host process is not in an exclude rule, or you'll never see the sideload.
- **"Signed" is not "trusted."** Attackers sign DLLs or abuse signed-then-appended code, so `SignatureStatus=Valid` alone is meaningless. Check that the signer is the expected vendor and compare the cert thumbprint and module hash to a known-good baseline.