Quote:AV-Comparatives conducts targeted offensive security evaluations, offering vendors the opportunity to achieve certification in specific protection domains. In 2026, the focus was again on “Shellcode Execution / Process Injection.” Certification reports are published exclusively for vendors that successfully meet the defined criteria. Participating vendors receive detailed technical feedback to support continuous product improvement.

https://www.av-comparatives.org/news/process-injection-certification-test-2026/
 
Process injection remains one of the most relevant and widely used techniques in modern attack chains. Within the MITRE ATT&CK framework (T1055), it represents a broad class of techniques spanning multiple stages, including initial access, defence evasion, and privilege escalation. Its flexibility and prevalence make it a key indicator of how effectively a product can handle stealthy, memory-based threats.

Positioning: Complementary to MITRE and EPR

This test is intentionally designed to provide a focused, deep-dive assessment of a single but critical attack technique, rather than a full attack-chain simulation.

• Compared to MITRE ATT&CK evaluations, which emphasize visibility, telemetry, and detection coverage across multi-stage scenarios, the Process Injection Test places stronger emphasis on active prevention and immediate detection at the point of execution.
  
• Compared to AV-Comparatives’ Endpoint Prevention and Response (EPR) Test, which evaluates overall protection effectiveness and operational impact across complete attack scenarios, this test isolates one of the most challenging technical layers: memory execution and process manipulation.
  

This positioning makes the Process Injection Test particularly relevant for analysts and enterprise buyers who want to understand how well a product handles highly evasive, low-level techniques, beyond broader detection narratives.

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