↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleMedium
COM Event System Loading New DLL
Description
'This query uses Sysmon Image Load (Event ID 7) and Process Create (Event ID 1) data to look for COM Event System being used to load a newly seen DLL.'
- Rule type
- Scheduled
- Version
- 1.0.4
- Query frequency
- 1d
- Query period
- 1d
- Trigger
- gt 0
Declared MITRE coverage
Declared sources
Metadata from the source file. No dependencies inferred from KQL.
Connectors
Data types
KQL query
Original query, unchanged.
let lookback_start = 7d;
let lookback_end = 1d;
let timedelta = 5s;
// Get a list of previously seen DLLs being loaded
let known_dlls = (Event
| where TimeGenerated between(ago(lookback_start)..ago(lookback_end))
| where EventID == 7
| extend EvData = parse_xml(EventData)
| extend EventDetail = EvData.DataItem.EventData.Data
| extend LoadedItems = parse_json(tostring(parse_json(tostring(EvData.DataItem)).EventData)).["Data"]
| mv-expand LoadedItems
| where tostring(LoadedItems.["@Name"]) =~ "ImageLoaded"
| extend DLL = tostring(LoadedItems.["#text"])
| summarize by DLL);
// Get Image Load events related to svchost.exe
Event
| where Source =~ "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
// Image Load Event in Sysmon
| where EventID == 7
| extend EvData = parse_xml(EventData)
| extend EventDetail = EvData.DataItem.EventData.Data
| extend Images = parse_json(tostring(parse_json(tostring(EvData.DataItem)).EventData)).["Data"]
| mv-expand Images
// Parse out executing process
| where tostring(Images.["@Name"]) =~ "Image"
| extend Image = tostring(Images.["#text"])
| where Image endswith "\\svchost.exe"
// Parse out loaded DLLs
| extend LoadedItems = parse_json(tostring(parse_json(tostring(EvData.DataItem)).EventData)).["Data"]
| mv-expand LoadedItems
| where tostring(LoadedItems.["@Name"]) =~ "ImageLoaded"
| extend DLL = tostring(LoadedItems.["#text"])
| extend Image = tostring(Image)
| extend ImageLoadTime = TimeGenerated
// Join with processes with a command line related to COM Event System
| join kind = inner(Event
| where Source =~ "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
// Sysmon process execution events
| where EventID == 1
| extend RenderedDescription = tostring(split(RenderedDescription, ":")[0])
| extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data
| mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData
| evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)
| extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")
| evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, RenderedDescription, MG, ManagementGroupName, Type, _ResourceId)
| extend ParentImage = tostring(column_ifexists("ParentImage", "NotAvailable"))
// Command line related to COM Event System
| where ParentImage endswith "\\svchost.exe"
//| where ParentCommandLine has_all (" -k LocalService"," -p"," -s EventSystem")
| extend ProcessExecutionTime = TimeGenerated) on $left.Image == $right.ParentImage
// Check timespan between DLL load and process creation
| extend delta = ProcessExecutionTime - ImageLoadTime
| where ImageLoadTime <= ProcessExecutionTime and delta <= timedelta
// Filter to only newly seen DLLs
| where DLL !in (known_dlls)
| extend ParentCommandLine = tostring(column_ifexists("ParentCommandLine", "NotAvailable"))
| project-reorder ImageLoadTime, ProcessExecutionTime , Image, ParentCommandLine, DLL
| extend Hashes = tostring(column_ifexists("Hashes", "NotAvailable, NotAvailable"))
| extend Hashes = split(Hashes, ",")
| mv-apply Hashes on (summarize FileHashes = make_bag(pack(tostring(split(Hashes, "=")[0]), tostring(split(Hashes, "=")[1]))))
| extend SHA1 = tostring(FileHashes.SHA1)
| extend HashAlgo = "SHA1"
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| extend Name = tostring(split(UserName, "\\")[1]), NTDomain = tostring(split(UserName, "\\")[0])
Declared entities
Related content
Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.
Source provenance
GitHubDisplayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.
- Commit
9800e51↗- Source identifier
02f6c2e5-219d-4426-a0bf-ad67abc63d53
Additional source files 1
Detections/SecurityEvent/COMEventSystemLoadingNewDLL.yamlsource ↗GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING
Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC