Hijack Execution Flow: DLL Search Order Hijacking Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the search order used to load DLLs. Windows systems use a common method to look for required DLLs to load into a program. Hijacking DLL loads may be for the purpose of establishing persistence as well as elevating privileges and/or evading restrictions on file execution.

There are many ways an …

Domain Member Sandbox Evasion

This technique determines if a host is a member of an Active Directory Domain without API calls. It helps prevent malicious payload execution in enterprise sandboxes that are not members of an Active Directory domain. The validation is done by checking the "LoggonServer" and "ComputerName" environment variables. If the host is logged into a domain controller, the "LoggonServer" value will …

Hijack Execution Flow: Path Interception by PATH Environment Variable Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking environment variables used to load libraries. Adversaries may place a program in an earlier entry in the list of directories stored in the PATH environment variable, which Windows will then execute when it searches sequentially through that PATH listing in search of the binary that was called from a script or …

Obfuscated Files or Information: Software Packing Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may perform software packing or virtual machine software protection to conceal their code. Software packing is a method of compressing or encrypting an executable. Packing an executable changes the file signature in an attempt to avoid signature-based detection. Most decompression techniques decompress the executable code in memory. Virtual machine software protection translates an executable's original code into a special …

Obfuscated Files or Information: Embedded Payloads Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may embed payloads within other files to conceal malicious content from defenses. Otherwise seemingly benign files (such as scripts and executables) may be abused to carry and obfuscate malicious payloads and content. In some cases, embedded payloads may also enable adversaries to Subvert Trust Controls by not impacting execution controls such as digital signatures and notarization tickets.

Adversaries …

System Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32 Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may abuse rundll32.exe to proxy execution of malicious code. Using rundll32.exe, vice executing directly (i.e. Shared Modules), may avoid triggering security tools that may not monitor execution of the rundll32.exe process because of allowlists or false positives from normal operations. Rundll32.exe is commonly associated with executing DLL payloads (ex: rundll32.exe {DLLname, DLLfunction}).

Rundll32.exe can also be used to …

System Binary Proxy Execution: Verclsid Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may abuse verclsid.exe to proxy execution of malicious code. Verclsid.exe is known as the Extension CLSID Verification Host and is responsible for verifying each shell extension before they are used by Windows Explorer or the Windows Shell.

Adversaries may abuse verclsid.exe to execute malicious payloads. This may be achieved by running verclsid.exe /S /C {CLSID}, where the file …

Process Hollowing, RunPE Process Manipulating

Process hollowing is a technique used by malware to evade detection by injecting malicious code into a legitimate process. This technique involves creating a new instance of a legitimate process and replacing its original code with the malicious payload.

The process is the following:

CreateProcess: in a suspended mode with the CreationFlag at 0x0000 0004.
…

Hijack Execution Flow: DLL Side-Loading Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by side-loading DLLs. Similar to DLL Search Order Hijacking, side-loading involves hijacking which DLL a program loads. But rather than just planting the DLL within the search order of a program then waiting for the victim application to be invoked, adversaries may directly side-load their payloads by planting then invoking a legitimate application …

Hijack Execution Flow: Executable Installer File Permissions Weakness Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the binaries used by an installer. These processes may automatically execute specific binaries as part of their functionality or to perform other actions. If the permissions on the file system directory containing a target binary, or permissions on the binary itself, are improperly set, then the target binary may be overwritten …

Search Evasion Techniques

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