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Chinese Hacktool Set - file kelloworld.dll

yara LOW Yara-Rules
community
This rule was pulled from an open-source repository and enriched with AI. Validate in a test environment before deploying to production.
View original rule at Yara-Rules →
Retrieved: 2026-07-18T11:00:00Z · Confidence: medium

Hunt Hypothesis

This detection identifies the presence of kelloworld.dll, a known artifact associated with Chinese-origin hack tools that may indicate reconnaissance or persistence activities within the environment. Proactively hunting for this specific file in Azure Sentinel is critical to distinguish legitimate software from potential supply chain compromises, ensuring early visibility into low-severity indicators that could evolve into significant threats if left unmonitored.

YARA Rule

rule kelloworld_2 {
	meta:
		description = "Chinese Hacktool Set - file kelloworld.dll"
		author = "Florian Roth"
		reference = "http://tools.zjqhr.com/"
		date = "2015-06-13"
		hash = "55d5dabd96c44d16e41f70f0357cba1dda26c24f"
	strings:
		$s1 = "Hello World!" fullword wide
		$s2 = "kelloworld.dll" fullword ascii
		$s3 = "kelloworld de mimikatz pour Windows" fullword wide
	condition:
		uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and filesize < 200KB and all of them
}

Deployment Notes

This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:

This rule contains 3 string patterns in its detection logic.

References

False Positive Guidance

Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the Chinese Hacktool Set - file kelloworld.dll detection rule, tailored for an enterprise environment:

Original source: https://github.com/Yara-Rules/rules/blob/main/malware/TOOLKIT_Chinese_Hacktools.yar