sigmamediumHunting

Suspicious Rundll32 Setupapi.dll Activity

setupapi.dll library provide InstallHinfSection function for processing INF files. INF file may contain instructions allowing to create values in the registry, modify files and install drivers. This technique could be used to obtain persistence via modifying one of Run or RunOnce registry keys, run process or use other DLLs chain calls (see references) InstallHinfSection function in setupapi.dll calls runonce.exe executable regardless of actual content of INF file.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1218.011

defense-evasion

Detection Query

selection:
  Image|endswith: \runonce.exe
  ParentImage|endswith: \rundll32.exe
  ParentCommandLine|contains|all:
    - setupapi.dll
    - InstallHinfSection
condition: selection

Author

Konstantin Grishchenko, oscd.community

Created

2020-10-07

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.t1218.011

Raw Content

title: Suspicious Rundll32 Setupapi.dll Activity
id: 285b85b1-a555-4095-8652-a8a4106af63f
status: test
description: setupapi.dll library provide InstallHinfSection function for processing INF files. INF file may contain instructions allowing to create values in the registry, modify files and install drivers. This technique could be used to obtain persistence via modifying one of Run or RunOnce registry keys, run process or use other DLLs chain calls (see references) InstallHinfSection function in setupapi.dll calls runonce.exe executable regardless of actual content of INF file.
references:
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Libraries/Setupapi/
    - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/bohops/0cc6586f205f3691e04a1ebf1806aabd/raw/baf7b29891bb91e76198e30889fbf7d6642e8974/calc_exe.inf
    - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huntresslabs/evading-autoruns/master/shady.inf
    - https://twitter.com/Z3Jpa29z/status/1313742350292746241?s=20
author: Konstantin Grishchenko, oscd.community
date: 2020-10-07
modified: 2021-11-27
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.t1218.011
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\runonce.exe'
        ParentImage|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
        ParentCommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'setupapi.dll'
            - 'InstallHinfSection'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Scripts and administrative tools that use INF files for driver installation with setupapi.dll
level: medium