Suspicious ImageLoad via Windows Update Auto Update Client
Description
Identifies abuse of the Windows Update Auto Update Client (wuauclt.exe) to load an arbitrary DLL. This behavior is used as a defense evasion technique to blend-in malicious activity with legitimate Windows software.
Query · eql
sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=1m
[process where event.action == "start" and
(process.pe.original_file_name == "wuauclt.exe" or process.name : "wuauclt.exe") and
process.parent.executable != null and
process.args : "/RunHandlerComServer" and process.args : "/UpdateDeploymentProvider" and
not process.parent.executable :
("?:\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\MoUsoCoreWorker.exe",
"\\Device\\HarddiskVolume*\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe",
"\\Device\\HarddiskVolume*\\Windows\\System32\\MoUsoCoreWorker.exe")]
[library where
not (dll.code_signature.subject_name : ("Microsoft Windows", "Microsoft Corporation") and dll.code_signature.trusted == true) and
not (dll.code_signature.trusted == true and
dll.path : ("?:\\Program Files\\*.dll",
"?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.dll",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\*.dll",
"?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\*.dll",
"?:\\ProgramData\\Symantec\\Symantec Endpoint Protection\\*.dll")) and
not dll.hash.sha256 : "dde77d27a7cb0189a9a3314e42f10666a2f69ca2b81ad03ae0cc9035a97a55ad"]