Sigma rule: Publisher Attachment File Dropped In Suspicious Location

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-ebb55c4e1c84, updated 2023-02-08T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Publisher Attachment File Dropped In Suspicious Location
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-02-08
File
rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_office_publisher_files_in_susp_locations.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects creation of files with the ".pub" extension in suspicious or uncommon locations. This could be a sign of attackers abusing Publisher documents

Log source

product
windows
category
file_event

Detection

selection:
    TargetFilename|contains:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
        - '\Users\Public\'
        - '\Windows\Temp\'
        - 'C:\Temp\'
    TargetFilename|endswith: '.pub'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate usage of ".pub" files from those locations

Tags

  • attack.stealth

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/file/file_event/file_event_win_office_publisher_files_in_susp_locations.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Publisher Attachment File Dropped In Suspicious Location" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_office_publisher_files_in_susp_locations.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: Publisher Attachment File Dropped In Suspicious Location",
entity page, dataset version ref-ebb55c4e1c84, updated 2023-02-08T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/3d2a2d59-929c-4b78-8c1a-145dfe9e07b1 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 3d2a2d59-929c-4b78-8c1a-145dfe9e07b1, 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.