Detection: Windows BitDefender Submission Wizard DLL Sideloading

EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION

This detection status is set to experimental. The Splunk Threat Research team has not yet fully tested, simulated, or built comprehensive datasets for this detection. As such, this analytic is not officially supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2026-03-13 ID: a1b2c3d4-e5f6-4789-a012-3456789abcde Author: Michael Haag, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

Detects DLL side-loading of Bitdefender Submission Wizard (BDSubmit.exe, bdsw.exe, or renamed BluetoothService.exe) when a malicious log.dll is loaded from a non-standard path via Sysmon ImageLoad events.

Search

 1`sysmon`
 2EventCode=7
 3(
 4    Image IN (
 5        "*\\BDSubmit.exe",
 6        "*\\bdsw.exe",
 7        "*\\BluetoothService.exe"
 8    )
 9    OR
10    OriginalFileName IN (
11        "BDSubmit.exe",
12        "bdsw.exe"
13    )
14)
15ImageLoaded="*\\log.dll"
16NOT ImageLoaded IN (
17    "*:\\Program Files (x86)\\*",
18    "*:\\Program Files\\*",
19    "*:\\Windows\\System32\\*",
20    "*:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\*"
21)
22
23| stats count min(_time) as firstTime
24              max(_time) as lastTime
25  by dest Image ImageLoaded Signed SignatureStatus User OriginalFileName loaded_file
26     loaded_file_path process_exec process_guid process_hash process_id process_name
27     process_path service_dll_signature_exists service_dll_signature_verified signature
28     signature_id user_id vendor_product
29
30| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
31
32| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
33
34| `windows_bitdefender_submission_wizard_dll_sideloading_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Sysmon EventID 7	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
windows_bitdefender_submission_wizard_dll_sideloading_filter	`search *`

windows_bitdefender_submission_wizard_dll_sideloading_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1574	Hijack Execution Flow	Defense Evasion

Exploitation

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Notable	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

Ingest Sysmon ImageLoad events and ensure the Splunk Add-on for Sysmon is configured to parse them. Enable ImageLoad in Sysmon config for DLLs. Map logs to Endpoint data model where applicable.

Known False Positives

Legitimate Bitdefender installations loading log.dll from Program Files are excluded. Allowlist known paths as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Lotus Blossom Chrysalis Backdoor

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Bitdefender Submission Wizard loaded $ImageLoaded$ from a non-standard path on $dest$ by user $User$, indicating potential DLL side-loading activity.

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	50	ImageLoaded, Image
User	user	50	ImageLoaded, Image

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	❌ Failing	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	❌ Failing	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 1