Sigma rule: ADS Zone.Identifier Deleted By Uncommon Application

Rule

Title

ADS Zone.Identifier Deleted By Uncommon Application

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-09-04

Modified

2025-07-04

File

rules/windows/file/file_delete/file_delete_win_zone_identifier_ads_uncommon.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the deletion of the "Zone.Identifier" ADS by an uncommon process. Attackers can leverage this in order to bypass security restrictions that make use of the ADS such as Microsoft Office apps.

Log source

product

windows

category

file_delete

Detection

selection:
    TargetFilename|endswith: ':Zone.Identifier'
filter_main_generic:
    # Note: in some envs this activity might be performed by other software. Apply additional filters as necessary
    Image:
        - 'C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7-preview\pwsh.exe'
        - 'C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\explorer.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe'
filter_optional_browsers_chrome:
    Image:
        - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe'
        - 'C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe'
filter_optional_browsers_firefox:
    Image:
        - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe'
        - 'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe'
filter_optional_browsers_msedge:
    Image:
        - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe'
        - 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Other third party applications not listed.

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1070.004

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1070.004

Related rules

• 7eac0a16-5832-4e81-865f-0268a6d19e4b (similar)

References

• https://securityliterate.com/how-malware-abuses-the-zone-identifier-to-circumvent-detection-and-analysis/
• Internal Research

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/file/file_delete/file_delete_win_zone_identifier_ads_uncommon.yml