Potential Privilege Escalation Attempt Via .Exe.Local Technique
Detects potential privilege escalation attempt via the creation of the "*.Exe.Local" folder inside the "System32" directory in order to sideload "comctl32.dll"
Detection logic
Detection requirements
- Log source product
- windows
- Log source category
- file_event
Known benign triggers
- Unknown
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
Not mapped to ATT&CK.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| github.com/binderlabs/DirCreate2System | 4 |
| github.com/sailay1996/awesome_windows_logical_bugs/blob/60cbb23a801f4c3195deac1cc46df27c225c3d07/dir_create2system.txt | 2 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 07a99744-56ac-40d2-97b7-2095967b0e03
- Tagged by the source as
- attack.persistenceattack.privilege-escalationattack.stealth
Licence
- Published under
- Detection Rule License 1.1Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Published
- Aug 26, 2026
- Version
- 1