T1546.009: AppCert DLLs

View on MITRE ATT&CK T1546.009
Tactic(s) Persistence, Privilege Escalation

Data from MITRE ATT&CK®:

Adversaries may establish persistence and/or elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by AppCert DLLs loaded into processes. Dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) that are specified in the AppCertDLLs Registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\ are loaded into every process that calls the ubiquitously used application programming interface (API) functions CreateProcess, CreateProcessAsUser, CreateProcessWithLoginW, CreateProcessWithTokenW, or WinExec. (Citation: Elastic Process Injection July 2017)

Similar to Process Injection, this value can be abused to obtain elevated privileges by causing a malicious DLL to be loaded and run in the context of separate processes on the computer. Malicious AppCert DLLs may also provide persistence by continuously being triggered by API activity.

© 2024 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation.

Cyber Threat Graph Context

Explore how this ATT&CK Technique relates to the wider threat graph

Mitigations for this technique

MITRE ATT&CK Mitigations

How to detect this technique

MITRE ATT&CK Data Components

Control Validation Tests for this Technique

Use Atomic Red Team tests to test your defenses against this technique.

Sigma Detections for this Technique

SP800-53 Controls

See which controls can help protect against this MITRE ATT&CK technique. This is based on mappings to associated SP800-53 controls produced by the MITRE Engenuity Center for Threat-Informed Defense.