detecting-dll-sideloading-attacks

name	detecting-dll-sideloading-attacks
description	Detect DLL side-loading attacks where adversaries place malicious DLLs alongside legitimate applications to hijack execution flow for defense evasion. Use when detecting dll side-loading attacks where adversaries place malicious dlls alongside.
domain	cybersecurity
tags	["threat-hunting","mitre-attack","dll-sideloading","defense-evasion","t1574","edr","proactive-detection"]
subdomain	threat-hunting
version	1.0
author	oyi77
license	Apache-2.0
d3fend_techniques	["File Metadata Consistency Validation","Content Format Conversion","File Content Analysis","Platform Hardening","File Format Verification"]
nist_csf	["DE.CM-01","DE.AE-02","DE.AE-07","ID.RA-05"]

Detecting Dll Sideloading Attacks

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for detecting dll sideloading attacks. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "detecting dll sideloading attacks"

• "Detect DLL side-loading attacks where adversaries place malicious DLLs alongside"

• 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

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• EDR with DLL load monitoring (CrowdStrike, MDE, SentinelOne)
• Sysmon Event ID 7 (Image Loaded) with hash verification
• Application whitelisting or DLL integrity monitoring
• Software inventory of legitimate applications and expected DLL paths
• Code signing verification capabilities

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def extract_iocs(text: str) -> dict:
    return {k: re.findall(v, text) for k, v in IOC_PATTERNS.items()}

1. Define Detection Scope — Identify the specific dll sideloading attacks techniques or indicators to hunt. Map to MITRE ATT&CK tactics/techniques where applicable.