CAPEC-579: Replace Winlogon Helper DLL (Version 3.9) Archived: 2026-04-06 01:30:12 UTC Attack Pattern ID: 579 Abstraction: Detailed Description Winlogon is a part of Windows that performs logon actions. In Windows systems prior to Windows Vista, a registry key can be modified that causes Winlogon to load a DLL on startup. Adversaries may take advantage of this feature to load adversarial code at startup. Relationships This table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern. These relationships are defined as ChildOf and ParentOf, and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as CanFollow, PeerOf, and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar attack patterns that the user may want to explore. Nature Type ChildOf Standard Attack Pattern - A standard level attack pattern in CAPEC is focused on a specific methodology or technique used in an attack. It This table shows the views that this attack pattern belongs to and top level categories within that view. View Name Top Level Categories Domains of Attack Software Mechanisms of Attack Inject Unexpected Items Mitigations Changes to registry entries in "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Winlogon\Notify" that do not correlate with known software, patch cycles, etc are suspicious. New DLLs written to System32 which do not correlate with known good software or patching may be suspicious. Taxonomy Mappings CAPEC mappings to ATT&CK techniques leverage an inheritance model to streamline and minimize direct CAPEC/ATT&CK mappings. Inheritance of a mapping is indicated by text stating that the parent CAPEC has relevant ATT&CK mappings. Note that the ATT&CK Enterprise Framework does not use an inheritance model as part of the mapping to CAPEC. Relevant to the ATT&CK taxonomy mapping (also see parent) Entry ID Entry Name 1547.004 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Winlogon helper DLL Content History Submissions Submission Date Submitter Organization 2015-11-09 (Version 2.7) CAPEC Content Team The MITRE Corporation Modifications Modification Date Modifier Organization https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/579.html Page 1 of 2 2020-07-30 (Version 3.3) CAPEC Content Team The MITRE Corporation Updated Taxonomy_Mappings 2023-01-24 (Version 3.9) CAPEC Content Team The MITRE Corporation Updated Related_Weaknesses More information is available — Please select a different filter. Source: https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/579.html https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/579.html Page 2 of 2