Sigma rule: File Download Using ProtocolHandler.exe

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-8901b6a0151d, updated 2023-11-09T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: File Download Using ProtocolHandler.exe
Status: test
Level: medium
Author: frack113
Date: 2021-07-13
Modified: 2023-11-09
File: rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_protocolhandler_download.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects usage of "ProtocolHandler" to download files. Downloaded files will be located in the cache folder (for example - %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE)

Log source

product: windows
category: process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\protocolhandler.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'ProtocolHandler.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'ftp://'
        - 'http://'
        - 'https://'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Unknown

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1218

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_protocolhandler_download.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"File Download Using ProtocolHandler.exe" by frack113 (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_protocolhandler_download.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: File Download Using ProtocolHandler.exe",
entity page, dataset version ref-8901b6a0151d, updated 2023-11-09T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/104cdb48-a7a8-4ca7-a453-32942c6e5dcb (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 104cdb48-a7a8-4ca7-a453-32942c6e5dcb, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.