Name:Msmpeng Application DLL Side Loading id:8bb3f280-dd9b-11eb-84d5-acde48001122 version:9 date:2025-04-22 author:Teoderick Contreras, Splunk, Sanjay Govind status:production type:TTP Description:The following analytic detects the suspicious creation of msmpeng.exe or mpsvc.dll in non-default Windows Defender folders. It leverages the Endpoint.Filesystem datamodel to identify instances where these files are created outside their expected directories. This activity is significant because it is associated with the REvil ransomware, which uses DLL side-loading to execute malicious payloads. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to ransomware deployment, resulting in data encryption, system compromise, and potential data loss or extortion. Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 11
search:|tstats `security_content_summariesonly` values(Filesystem.file_path) as file_path count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Filesystem where (Filesystem.file_name = "msmpeng.exe" OR Filesystem.file_name = "mpsvc.dll") AND NOT (Filesystem.file_path IN ("*\\Program Files\\windows defender\\*","*\\WinSxS\\*defender-service*","*\\WinSxS\\Temp\\*defender-service*")) by Filesystem.action Filesystem.dest Filesystem.file_access_time Filesystem.file_create_time Filesystem.file_hash Filesystem.file_modify_time Filesystem.file_name Filesystem.file_path Filesystem.file_acl Filesystem.file_size Filesystem.process_guid Filesystem.process_id Filesystem.user Filesystem.vendor_product | `drop_dm_object_name(Filesystem)` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `msmpeng_application_dll_side_loading_filter`
how_to_implement:To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on process that include the name of the Filesystem responsible for the changes from your endpoints into the `Endpoint` datamodel in the `Filesystem` node. known_false_positives:quite minimal false positive expected. References: -https://community.sophos.com/b/security-blog/posts/active-ransomware-attack-on-kaseya-customers drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$user$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") starthoursago=168 | 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:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Ransomware' - 'Revil Ransomware' asset_type:Endpoint mitre_attack_id: - 'T1574.001' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' security_domain:endpoint
