Is pcre2-16.dll safe?
No antivirus engine detected this established, verified CD PROJEKT DLL, while five signer-matched files received consistent benign assessments despite isolated behavioral mappings.
The DLL drew no detections from 74 antivirus engines, including 17 reporting tier-1 engines, and carries a verified CD PROJEKT S.A. signature. Its broad prevalence and five benign signer-matched precedents outweigh the isolated T1055 and T1562.001 behavioral mappings, which were not accompanied by a malicious sandbox conclusion.
143de9f4229cc5fac9…c5fcb4f5ea7808Recommended next actions
Before using
Use it only as part of software obtained from the developer's official site or another source you independently trust.
If you already used it
Keep normal device protection enabled and stop if the file behaves unexpectedly.
Intelligence
The saved assessment, checked against the scan evidence and recorded coverage.
The reasoning behind this verdict
This section explains the evidence supporting the verdict and keeps conflicting or missing signals visible.
The DLL drew no detections from 74 antivirus engines, including 17 reporting tier-1 engines, and carries a verified CD PROJEKT S.A. signature. Its broad prevalence and five benign signer-matched precedents outweigh the isolated T1055 and T1562.001 behavioral mappings, which were not accompanied by a malicious sandbox conclusion.
All 74 antivirus engines returned no malicious or suspicious result, with 17 tier-1 engines reporting the sample clean. The DLL has a verified CD PROJEKT S.A. signature, no brand mismatch, and has been submitted 322 times by 295 sources. Five signer-matched files previously received benign assessments, providing consistent publisher context beyond the limited one-sample signer statistics. One sandbox mapped activity to T1055 and T1562.001, but produced no malicious sandbox conclusion, persistence indicators, or malicious child finding. No complete contacted-host reputation result is available, although the recorded execution contained no network contacts.
What We Detected
No malicious or suspicious result was returned by any of 74 antivirus engines. All 17 reporting tier-1 engines were clean, and the file is signed with a verified certificate belonging to CD PROJEKT S.A. No publisher-brand conflict was detected.
Threat Behavior
One completed sandbox run mapped activity to T1055 and T1562.001, including a possible process-injection indicator. These mappings can be security-relevant, but the run did not produce a malicious sandbox conclusion or persistence indicators. Ten written child artifacts were inspected without a malicious child finding. The execution recorded no contacted domains, IP addresses, or URLs; a separate complete host-reputation cross-check was not available.
What To Do Now
The evidence is consistent with an established CD PROJEKT software component, supported by 295 submitters, 322 submissions, and five benign signer-matched precedents. Keep endpoint protection enabled and obtain the DLL through the original game installation or an official distribution channel rather than an unrelated download site.
Where this verdict could be wrong3 caveats
- behaviour.offensiveTechniques includes T1055 and T1562.001, and MalwareTips.Synth.ProcessInjection fired; however, the saved mapping does not establish the exact method or intent.
- signing.signerStats.totalSamples=1 provides limited standalone publisher-history depth, though five signer-matched prior verdicts independently support the signature.
- contactedHosts is null, so no complete host-reputation cross-check is available; the sandbox recorded no contacted domains, IPs, or URLs.
These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.
- 0/74 antivirus engines flagged the sample
- 17 reporting tier-1 engines returned clean results
- Verified signature from CD PROJEKT S.A.
- Established prevalence across 295 sources and 322 submissions
- Five of five signer-matched prior files received benign assessments
- Sandbox mapping to MITRE T1055 for possible process injection
- Sandbox mapping to MITRE T1562.001 for possible security-control impairment
- Complete contacted-host reputation cross-check was unavailable
- Publisher statistics contain only one directly indexed sample
Use the DLL only as part of its original, officially obtained CD PROJEKT installation. Keep endpoint protection enabled and replace the file through the product's verification or repair feature if its origin is uncertain.
Coverage & freshness
Complete means the check returned a usable result. It does not mean the file is safe.
Antivirus
Complete0 of 74 engines flagged the file.
Sandbox
Complete1 isolated runtime environment contributed observations.
Network
Not runNo contacted-host reputation check is recorded.
No timestamp recordedYARA
Complete1 signature or behavior rule matched.
External intel
Complete3 of 3 independent reference sources completed.
Behavior
Plain-English impact first, then the observed runtime evidence.
Runtime flight recorder
Capture complete- 1isolated sandbox run
- 14MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- 15spawned processes
- 0network contacts
- 40filesystem & mutex artifacts
Attack story
Runtime observations grouped by analysis stage. Arrows organize the stages; they do not claim chronology or causality.
Input file
The submitted object
- FileObserved
pcre2-16.dll
143de9f4229cc5fac90b323ef9a655c0fdc819be7a47b63d08c5fcb4f5ea7808
01Uploaded file
Processes
Runtime execution
- ProcessObserved
Observed process
"C:\Windows\sysnative\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\pcre2-16.dll",#1
02Isolated runtime analysis - ProcessObserved
Observed process
C:\Windows\system32\WerFault.exe -u -p 6444 -s 496
03Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
Files
Created or changed
- Written fileObserved
Temp
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp
04Isolated runtime analysis - Written fileObserved
16a9e697-1f82-4126-a529-2c8a3619f1fe
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\16a9e697-1f82-4126-a529-2c8a3619f1fe
05Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
5 recorded facts from one runtime window. Every fact remains independently traceable in Analyst mode.
What this file did when executed
This file was detonated in 1 sandbox and its runtime behaviour was observed.
Adversary techniques mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\16a9e697-1f82-4126-a529-2c8a3619f1fe
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\aa83021a-4abf-4e8b-8891-f93db2f4158e
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERC8AF.tmp
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD504.tmp
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD6BA.tmp
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERC8AF.tmp.dmp
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD504.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
- Local\WERReportingForProcess6444
- Global\AmiProviderMutex_InventoryApplicationFile
- Global\e2e39c9d-ed82-4941-ad92-21f0da5561c8
- \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Local\SessionImmersiveColorMutex
- \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Local\WERReportingForProcess6516
Files this sample writes at runtime
This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.
- 277e6bab0f59786c3c8f…5565a6Never scannednever seen before
- 9a004bf455faf718a558…5a3b0aNever scannednever seen before
- 222b75520ad0016dc3ff…946b3fNever scannednever seen before
- 0246c07ac23e9f54d94a…dc9e3fNever scannednever seen before
- b733448a16401dbb0575…07b802Never scannednever seen before
- ac66b88c2277d8c91c9f…5adec2Never scannednever seen before
- 816c67e46232abee166a…cf5836Never scannednever seen before
- e0ec59547816081b87ee…002434Never scannednever seen before
- a6cb01bd0def4a8b7a27…ef0f29Never scannednever seen before
- 5078eccb46974b4314da…a1f8d1Never scannednever seen before
Detection & Forensics
Consensus, attribution, signatures, code structure, prevalence, and identity.
Evidence integrity
Chain of custody for the facts preserved in this report.
- 1rule hit recorded
- 0 / 74engines flagged
- 295sources in submission history
Why these facts are shown
Each statement identifies whether it was directly recorded or derived from saved scan facts.
- 01
0 of 74 antivirus engines flagged the file.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceObservedSourceAntivirus analysisObserved at - 02
The hash has a long, established submission history across 295 sources.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceDerivedSourceSubmission historyObserved at - 03
The file has a valid code signature from CD PROJEKT S.A..
ProvenanceObservedSourceCode-signing metadataObserved at - 04
Scanned file: pcre2-16.dll — 143de9f4229cc5fac90b323ef9a655c0fdc819be7a47b63d08c5fcb4f5ea7808
ProvenanceObservedSourceUploaded fileObserved at - 05
Observed process — "C:\Windows\sysnative\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\pcre2-16.dll",#1
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 06
Observed process — C:\Windows\system32\WerFault.exe -u -p 6444 -s 496
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 07
File written: Temp — C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 08
File written: 16a9e697-1f82-4126-a529-2c8a3619f1fe — C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\16a9e697-1f82-4126-a529-2c8a3619f1fe
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at
Detection sources at a glance
The available sources did not agree on a named threat category.
MalwareBazaar, YARAify, and CIRCL hashlookup completed and returned no entries for this hash.
Signatures and behavior heuristics
A community signature or high-severity behavioral heuristic matched. Signatures identify known patterns; heuristics are strong leads but are not proof on their own.
The saved runtime evidence maps this activity to MITRE T1055 (Process Injection). The mapping supports possible process injection, but it does not prove the exact injection method or the operator's intent.
Evidence"C:\Windows\sysnative\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\pcre2-16.dll",#1
0 of 74 engines flagged this file
View all 74 engine results
Section entropy & packers
No high-entropy executable section or known packer signature was detected. Data and resource sections can still have high entropy without indicating packed code.
How widely this file has been seen
Widely seen in the wild for a long time. High prior this is legitimate; isolated detections on common-old files are usually false positives.
Fingerprint and provenance
- File name
- pcre2-16.dll
- Format
- Win32 DLL
- Code signing
- Signature valid: CD PROJEKT S.A.
- Size
- 414.6 KB
- Last analyzed
- Sep 23, 2026, 5:09 AM UTC
143de9f4229cc5fac90b323ef9a655c0fdc819be7a47b63d08c5fcb4f5ea7808Safety & FAQ
Complete recovery guidance and answers for the next decision.
What to do now
This file appears low risk based on the evidence available now.
- Recovery step 01
Use it only as part of software obtained from the developer's official site or another source you independently trust.
- Recovery step 02
A clean result reduces known risk, but it cannot guarantee that every new or targeted threat has been detected.
- Recovery step 03
Keep your antivirus and Windows updates switched on so you stay protected.
Safety FAQ
Direct answers grounded in the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is pcre2-16.dll safe?
What is pcre2-16.dll?
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Is pcre2-16.dll digitally signed?
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Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.