Windows Suspicious Driver Loaded Path

Description

The following analytic detects the loading of drivers from suspicious paths, which is a technique often used by malicious software such as coin miners (e.g., xmrig). It leverages Sysmon EventCode 6 to identify drivers loaded from non-standard directories. This activity is significant because legitimate drivers typically reside in specific system directories, and deviations may indicate malicious activity. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to execute code at the kernel level, potentially leading to privilege escalation, persistence, or further system compromise.

Query · spl

`sysmon` EventCode=6 ImageLoaded IN("*\\windows\\fonts\\*", "*\\users\\public\\*", "*\\windows\\debug\\*", "*\\Users\\Administrator\\Music\\*", "*Recycle.bin*", "*\\Windows\\Media\\*","\\Windows\\repair\\*", "*\\PerfLogs\\*", "*:\\Windows\\Prefetch\\*", "*:\\Windows\\Cursors\\*", "*\\temp\\*", "*\\download*", "*\\appdata\\*") |  stats  min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by ImageLoaded dest dvc process_hash process_path signature signature_id user_id vendor_product | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_suspicious_driver_loaded_path_filter`

Implementation guide

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the driver loaded and Signature from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.

Known false positives

  • Limited false positives will be present. Some applications do load drivers

Analyst notes

Known false positives: Limited false positives will be present. Some applications do load drivers

Raw source Windows Suspicious Driver Loaded Path · SPL
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Published by splunk/security_content ↗, licensed under Apache 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified. 
name: Windows Suspicious Driver Loaded Path
id: 2ca1c4a1-8342-4750-9363-905650e0c933
version: 9
creation_date: '2021-05-07'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects the loading of drivers from suspicious paths, which is a technique often used by malicious software such as coin miners (e.g., xmrig). It leverages Sysmon EventCode 6 to identify drivers loaded from non-standard directories. This activity is significant because legitimate drivers typically reside in specific system directories, and deviations may indicate malicious activity. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to execute code at the kernel level, potentially leading to privilege escalation, persistence, or further system compromise.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 6
search: '`sysmon` EventCode=6 ImageLoaded IN("*\\windows\\fonts\\*", "*\\users\\public\\*", "*\\windows\\debug\\*", "*\\Users\\Administrator\\Music\\*", "*Recycle.bin*", "*\\Windows\\Media\\*","\\Windows\\repair\\*", "*\\PerfLogs\\*", "*:\\Windows\\Prefetch\\*", "*:\\Windows\\Cursors\\*", "*\\temp\\*", "*\\download*", "*\\appdata\\*") |  stats  min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by ImageLoaded dest dvc process_hash process_path signature signature_id user_id vendor_product | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_suspicious_driver_loaded_path_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the driver loaded and Signature from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: Limited false positives will be present. Some applications do load drivers
references:
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk/threat-encyclopedia/malware/trojan.ps1.powtran.a/
    - https://redcanary.com/blog/tracking-driver-inventory-to-expose-rootkits/
    - https://whiteknightlabs.com/2025/11/25/discreet-driver-loading-in-windows/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
finding:
    title: Suspicious driver $ImageLoaded$ on $dest$
    entity:
        field: dest
        type: system
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - XMRig
    - CISA AA22-320A
    - AgentTesla
    - BlackByte Ransomware
    - Snake Keylogger
    - Interlock Ransomware
    - APT37 Rustonotto and FadeStealer
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1543.003
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/malware/xmrig_miner/windows-sysmon.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit

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