File verdict·Decided by the MT AI Engine
Our call

Safe

Zero engine detections on a 17-year-old common DLL tied to a known game installer despite sandbox process-injection flags.

Trust score82Moderate trust
SETUPAPI.DLL
333.3 KB
51f2682279e28386aa9f0c544159
Antivirus engines
0 of 74 flagged
Code signing
Unsigned
Age
First seen 17y ago
MT AI Engine · Verdict analysis

The reasoning behind this verdict

The MT AI Engine weighs every signal from this scan — antivirus detections, sandbox behaviour, code signing, prevalence and historical matches — to reach a single, evidence-based verdict.

78%Confidence
High
Reasoning

The complete absence of malicious detections across tier-1 and tier-2 engines combined with a 2009 NSRL match and 786 prior submissions strongly indicates a legitimate game component. The observed MITRE techniques and direct-IP contacts are consistent with older game launchers that use rundll32 and connect to static CDN IPs. No malicious children, no malicious hosts, and no brand mismatch further support a benign classification.

Key signals · 5

Each signal cites a concrete token from the evidence the arbiter saw — engine name, MITRE technique, signer string, or an exact count.

  1. engines: 0 malicious detections out of 74 total (16 tier-1 clean)

  2. externalIntel.circl.hit=true with productName 'FINAL FANTASY XI ONLINE VANA'DIEL COLLECTION 2007'

  3. prevalence.classification=common_old (612 sources, 786 submissions)

  4. behaviour.offensiveTechniques count=4 (T1055, T1134, T1543.003, T1547.001) and triggeredHeuristics[0].rule=MalwareTips.Synth.ProcessInjection

  5. similarHashes.length=0 — no prior RAG matches

Points in its favour
  • Zero detections across 74 engines
  • NSRL match for known game title
  • High historical prevalence since 2009
  • No malicious dropped children or hosts
Points against
  • Unsigned binary
  • Sandbox observed process injection (T1055)
  • Direct-IP network contact without DNS
Recommended action

Keep the file if it belongs to FINAL FANTASY XI; otherwise isolate and re-scan the parent installer.

What to do now

This file looks safe based on everything we checked.

  1. This file is safe to use.

  2. Good habit: only download files from the official website or an app store.

  3. Keep your antivirus and Windows updates switched on so you stay protected.

Runtime behaviour

What this file did when executed

This file was detonated in 1 sandbox and its runtime behaviour was observed.

MITRE ATT&CK
27

Adversary techniques mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

T1007T1012T1018T1027· Obfuscated codeT1036T1055· Process injectionT1056· KeyloggingT1059· Runs commandsT1070.006· Covers its tracksT1071· Remote server (C2)T1082· System reconT1083· Scans your filesT1095· Custom networkT1112T1129· Loads modulesT1134T1218.011T1222T1497· Sandbox evasionT1518.001· Checks your AVT1529T1543.003· Service installT1547.001· Auto-startT1564.003· Hides artifacts+3 more
Spawned processes
4
$(unnamed)
"C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\library.dll",#1
$(unnamed)
/usr/libexec/xpcproxy
$(unnamed)
/Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit
$(unnamed)
/usr/libexec/USBAgent /usr/libexec/USBAgent
Network activity
20
IP addresses20
  • 184.24.37.120
  • 17.249.105.246
  • 17.253.21.204
  • 17.253.6.125
  • 17.253.24.125
  • 17.253.20.125
  • 17.248.185.40
  • 23.63.250.8
  • 17.253.21.202
  • 17.248.185.235
+10 more
Filesystem & mutexes
40
Files written15
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_rundll32.exe_58f421ab8e6d13ac64e44a83cde1e39d372bd9e_82810a17_06dc6f7a
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_rundll32.exe_58f421ab8e6d13ac64e44a83cde1e39d372bd9e_82810a17_06dc6f7a\Report.wer
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_rundll32.exe_b412da6d79cdd825c2778bd5cd0bf1353333d0_82810a17_0e28339a
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_rundll32.exe_b412da6d79cdd825c2778bd5cd0bf1353333d0_82810a17_0e28339a\Report.wer
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2AFF.tmp
+10 more
Files deleted15
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2AFF.tmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2AFF.tmp.dmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2E8A.tmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2E8A.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2F56.tmp
+10 more
Mutexes created10
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Local\WERReportingForProcess7748
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Global\AmiProviderMutex_InventoryApplicationFile
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Global\6d4daaf0-07d0-4591-89ab-06264c996acf
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Local\WERReportingForProcess3924
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Global\458c68c1-8aa3-4580-a33e-fd1a901516f2
+5 more
Dropped payload

Files this sample writes at runtime

This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.

10 unseen
  • b9603cfbee5dc7403885c66cc4Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 589dc8523d837bf0077bde9096Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 428b7a7ee7c05d5f0d24323360Never scanned
    never seen before
  • abf8ba72ed7e9fa7521975a96cNever scanned
    never seen before
  • c091af3c9770935c6ee27bf289Never scanned
    never seen before
  • cd24d0e33dde51bbb8fef0896aNever scanned
    never seen before
  • 7cb842161bb4c4003c4f05cc0dNever scanned
    never seen before
  • f1a1189712ab3c5e3775fcc0d9Never scanned
    never seen before
  • db6f3df6654dcc35e4db3396f4Never scanned
    never seen before
  • b4a490390a242301e2d6bf2d69Never scanned
    never seen before
External threat intelligence

1 corroborating signal from researcher-curated sources

CIRCL hashlookup HIT·known-good reference DB·trust 50/100View on CIRCL
nsrl_legacyFINAL FANTASY XI ONLINE VANA'DIEL COLLECTION 2007· setupapi.dll
Cross-referenced against MalwareBazaar (abuse.ch), YARAify, and the CIRCL hashlookup reference DB.
Signature matches

YARA & heuristic rule matches

A researcher-curated or high-severity heuristic rule matched this sample. These rules target specific malware families and are near-definitive.

2 synthesis
MITRE ATT&CK profile
Defense evasion× 1C2× 1
MalwareTips synthesis rules
Our own detection rules, applied to the scan data and sandbox behaviour
  • ProcessInjectionhigh

    MITRE T1055 (Process Injection) observed — CreateRemoteThread / APC / reflective-DLL injection. The payload is being smuggled into a legitimate process to bypass AV hooks.

    Evidence
    "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\library.dll",#1
  • DirectIpC2medium

    Sample contacted 20 external IP address(es) and zero domains. Benign software virtually always uses DNS; no-DNS direct-IP C2 is a strong malware indicator because it bypasses reputation systems and dodges domain-based blocklists.

    Evidence
    184.24.37.120 · 17.249.105.246 · 17.253.21.204
Antivirus engine breakdown

0 detections across 74 engines

0 malicious0 suspicious74 clean
Tier-117 engines
0flag
Top commercial AVs (low FP rate)
Tier-240 engines
0flag
Mainstream engines with mixed FP rates
Low-trust17 engines
0flag
Heuristic / generic-AI engines (high FP rate)
All 74 engines report this file as clean.
Hash 51f2682279e2… cross-referenced against 74 AV engines via our AV network.
PE forensics

Section entropy & packers

Section-level entropy and packer detection from the PE header. Nothing suspicious here — entropy is within the normal range for unpacked code.

ent 1.19Unpacked
Section entropy5 sections
.text
6.37
.rdata
5.73
.data
2.34
.rsrc
4.46
.reloc
5.96
0.0Packed threshold 7.28.0
Prevalence

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.

Common & old
Unique uploaders
612
Hundreds of people have uploaded this — common.
Total submissions
786
Includes repeat uploads by the same source.
First seen
17y ago
Apr 18, 2009
Prevalence quadrant
Rare · New
Targeted malware lives here
Common · New
Just-released software
Rare · Old
Niche or internal tooling
here
Common · Old
Trusted legitimate binaries
File identity

Forensic fingerprint

File biography
First seen (VT)
4/18/2009, 12:20:04 PM
First seen (MalwareBazaar)
Last analysis (VT)
7/12/2026, 8:42:48 AM
Scanned here
7/19/2026, 7:52:01 AM
File name
SETUPAPI.DLL
Size
333.3 KB
MIME type
(unknown)
Detected type
Win32 DLL
SHA-256
51f2682279e28386aa9c0eb8ba4f8ac3000c9ff75cf7e2456e8cdd9f0c544159
MD5
5991908f571101d7dda613dbb679aa5b
SHA-1
b91e56d2fb8d03fcb59893a47ea73f9f3768ef23
PE imphash
34e609de713a84ae984541be5b4ecb82
First seen (VT)
4/18/2009, 12:20:04 PM
Last analysis (VT)
7/12/2026, 8:42:48 AM
First scan (MalwareTips)
7/19/2026, 7:52:01 AM
Last scan (MalwareTips)
7/19/2026, 7:52:01 AM
Community reputation
+15trusted
Behavior tags
nsrlknown-distributoroverlaypedllvia-torchecks-user-inputdetect-debug-environment
Frequently asked

Safety FAQ

Common questions about SETUPAPI.DLL, answered from the scan data above.

  • SETUPAPI.DLL appears safe. 74 of 74 antivirus engines report it clean. As a habit, only run files you downloaded from the official source, since attackers sometimes distribute trojanised copies of legitimate software under the same name.
  • SETUPAPI.DLL is a Windows executable program, about 333 KB. Our analysis found no threat indicators for it. A file's name can be reused by different files, so we identify it by its cryptographic hash (below).
  • None — all 74 antivirus engines we queried report SETUPAPI.DLL as clean. That's reassuring, though brand-new malware can briefly evade detection before vendors add signatures, so we also weigh the file's behaviour and reputation.
  • The SHA-256 hash of SETUPAPI.DLL is 51f2682279e28386aa9c0eb8ba4f8ac3000c9ff75cf7e2456e8cdd9f0c544159, and its MD5 is 5991908f571101d7dda613dbb679aa5b. This hash is the file's unique fingerprint — two files with the same SHA-256 are identical. Use it to confirm you're looking at exactly this file (not just one with the same name) when comparing against antivirus databases or a download's published checksum.
  • Based on this scan, yes — SETUPAPI.DLL shows no threat indicators. The important caveat is source: make sure you downloaded it from the official website or a trusted store, because attackers sometimes distribute malware-laced copies under a legitimate file's name. If your own antivirus flags it while we report it clean, that is most often a false positive, but verify the source before overriding your antivirus.
  • This report reflects the scan run on July 19, 2026. Because a file's hash never changes, the identity of SETUPAPI.DLL is fixed — but antivirus coverage improves over time, so a file that looks clean today can pick up detections later (and vice-versa). If you need the latest picture, MalwareTips staff can re-run the analysis from scratch.
Community classification

Reviews & malware reports(0)

Tell the community what you saw. Tag the sample — Trojan, Adware, False Positive — and share what the file did on your system. Your report helps confirm or dispute the AV verdict.

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Files are processed in a streaming pass-through — MalwareTips never stores the binary on its servers. Only the scan result (hash, detections, verdict) is retained so the next person who scans the same file gets an instant answer. If you ran this file on your computer and are worried, scan your system with an up-to-date antivirus and change critical passwords from a different device.