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Anomalous usage of 7zip

The following analytic detects the execution of 7z.exe, a 7-Zip utility, spawned from rundll32.exe or dllhost.exe. This behavior is identified using Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) telemetry, focusing on…

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of 7z.exe, a 7-Zip utility, spawned from rundll32.exe or dllhost.exe. This behavior is identified using Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) telemetry, focusing on process names and parent processes. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to use 7-Zip for data exfiltration, often by renaming the executable to evade detection. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized data archiving and exfiltration, compromising sensitive information and potentially leading to further system exploitation.

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Platform
LinuxmacOSWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.

Known benign triggers

  • False positives should be limited as this behavior is not normal for `rundll32.exe` or `dllhost.exe` to spawn and run 7zip.

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