Detect CVE-2012-1854 - Microsoft VBA Insecure Library Loading (DLL Hijacking) in IBM QRadar
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
QRadar Detection Query
SELECT DATEFORMAT(devicetime,'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss') AS EventTime, LOGSOURCENAME(logsourceid) AS LogSource, username, "Process Name", "Image Loaded", hostname
FROM events
WHERE LOGSOURCETYPENAME(devicetype) = 'Microsoft Windows Security Event Log'
AND "Process Name" ILIKE ANY ('%WINWORD.EXE', '%EXCEL.EXE', '%POWERPNT.EXE', '%OUTLOOK.EXE', '%MSACCESS.EXE', '%MSPUB.EXE', '%VISIO.EXE')
AND "Image Loaded" ILIKE ANY ('%vbe7.dll', '%vba7.dll', '%vbe6.dll', '%vba6.dll', '%msvbvm60.dll', '%msvbvm50.dll')
AND ("Image Loaded" ILIKE '%\Users\%' OR "Image Loaded" ILIKE '%\AppData\%' OR "Image Loaded" ILIKE '%\Temp\%' OR "Image Loaded" ILIKE '%\Downloads\%')
LAST 7 DAYSQRadar AQL query identifying Office application DLL loads of VBA libraries from non-standard user-writable paths, consistent with CVE-2012-1854 DLL hijacking exploitation.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Legitimate Office deployments using non-default installation paths
- Managed software distribution temporarily staging DLLs in AppData
- Office Click-to-Run streaming installations with virtualized paths
- IT automation scripts deploying Office components to user directories
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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