huntrule

Windows Executable Dropping Archive Files via Common LOLBINs and Office Apps

Alerts when Office or other specified Windows binaries create archive files like .zip/.rar/.7z/.diagcab/.appx on disk.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2
Product
windows
Category
file_event
Author
frack113, Florian Roth (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2022-08-21
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows processes whose executable path matches common Office applications, certificate-related utilities, and other living-off-the-land binaries, when they write archive-formatted files to disk. Archive drops are a common attacker technique for packaging payloads for persistence, staging, or later execution, making unexpected .zip/.rar/.7z/.diagcab/.appx creation suspicious. It relies on file event telemetry that records the creating process image and the target filename extension.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218 — drag to rearrange
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Malicious certutil Decodehex Payload Reconstruction by DarkGate
Malicious MSIX Package Execution via App Installer ms-appinstaller Protocol (via process_creation)
Malicious ViPNet Backdoor Loader via lumpdiag.exe Path Substitution
Suspicious BitLockerToGo Execution from Unusual Parent
Suspicious Proxy Execution via pcalua
Windows Executable Dropping Archive Files via Common LOLBINs and Office Apps
Pivot detection · T1218 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
  1. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v1
    No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.