Detect CVE-2012-1854 - Microsoft VBA Insecure Library Loading (DLL Hijacking) in Elastic Security
Detects exploitation of CVE-2012-1854, a DLL hijacking vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Attackers can place a malicious DLL in a directory searched before the legitimate library path, causing Office applications loading VBA to execute attacker-controlled code. This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
MITRE ATT&CK
Elastic Detection Query
library where
process.name in~ ("WINWORD.EXE", "EXCEL.EXE", "POWERPNT.EXE", "OUTLOOK.EXE", "MSACCESS.EXE", "MSPUB.EXE", "VISIO.EXE") and
dll.name in~ ("vbe7.dll", "vba7.dll", "vbe6.dll", "vba6.dll", "msvbvm60.dll", "msvbvm50.dll") and
(
dll.path like~ "*\\Users\\*" or
dll.path like~ "*\\AppData\\*" or
dll.path like~ "*\\Temp\\*" or
dll.path like~ "*\\Downloads\\*" or
dll.path like~ "*\\Desktop\\*"
)EQL query detecting VBA DLL hijacking by identifying Office process library loads of VBA-related DLLs from user-writable paths, a hallmark of CVE-2012-1854 exploitation.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Development builds of Office applications deployed to non-standard directories
- Automated testing frameworks loading Office components from scratch directories
- Legitimate use of portable Office suites
- Security research environments with intentional non-standard DLL placement
Other platforms for CVE-2012-1854
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1VBA DLL Hijack - Place Malicious DLL in Temp Directory
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 7 showing WINWORD.EXE loading vbe7.dll from %TEMP% path; DeviceImageLoadEvents in MDE showing FolderPath containing \Temp\
- Test 2VBA DLL Hijack - Place Malicious DLL in Downloads Directory
Expected signal: Sysmon ImageLoad event with ImageLoaded path in \Downloads\; Windows Security log showing file creation event in Downloads directory followed by Office process DLL load
- Test 3VBA DLL Hijack - Simulate Document-Triggered DLL Load via PowerShell
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 7 with POWERPNT.EXE as initiating process and vba7.dll loaded from TEMP\vba_hijack_test path; process creation event showing PowerShell as parent of POWERPNT
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Get the full detection package for CVE-2012-1854 including response playbook, investigation guide, and atomic red team tests.