Hijack Execution Flow: DLL Side-Loading

Created the Tuesday 31 January 2023. Updated 6 months, 1 week ago.

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 that executes their payload(s).

Side-loading takes advantage of the DLL search order used by the loader by positioning both the victim application and malicious payload(s) alongside each other. Adversaries likely use side-loading as a means of masking actions they perform under a legitimate, trusted, and potentially elevated system or software process. Benign executables used to side-load payloads may not be flagged during delivery and/or execution. Adversary payloads may also be encrypted/packed or otherwise obfuscated until loaded into the memory of the trusted process.



Additional Resources

External Links

The resources provided below are associated links that will give you even more detailed information and research on current evasion technique. It is important to note that, while these resources may be helpful, it is important to exercise caution when following external links. As always, be careful when clicking on links from unknown sources, as they may lead to malicious content.

Subscribe to our Newsletter


The information entered into this form is mandatory. It will be subjected to computer processing. It is processed by computer in order to support our users and readers. The recipients of the data will be : contact@unprotect.it.

According to the Data Protection Act of January 6th, 1978, you have at any time, a right of access to and rectification of all of your personal data. If you wish to exercise this right and gain access to your personal data, please write to Thomas Roccia at contact@unprotect.it.

You may also oppose, for legitimate reasons, the processing of your personal data.