Sigma rule: Potential Arbitrary File Download Using Office Application
A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-9dca4274dfc3, updated 2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z.
Rule
- Title
- Potential Arbitrary File Download Using Office Application
- Status
- test
- Level
- high
- Author
- Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Beyu Denis, oscd.community
- Date
- 2022-05-17
- Modified
- 2026-09-25
- File
- rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_office_arbitrary_cli_download.yml
- Commit
- ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84
Detects potential arbitrary file download using a Microsoft Office application
Log source
- product
- windows
- category
- process_creation
Detection
selection_img:
- Image|endswith:
- '\EXCEL.EXE'
- '\MSOXMLED.EXE'
- '\POWERPNT.EXE'
- '\WINWORD.exe'
- OriginalFileName:
- 'Excel.exe'
- 'msoxmled.exe'
- 'POWERPNT.EXE'
- 'WinWord.exe'
selection_http:
CommandLine|contains:
- 'http://'
- 'https://'
condition: all of selection_*False positives (as the rule lists them)
- Unknown
Tags
- attack.stealth
- attack.t1202
MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names
Related rules
References
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Winword/
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Powerpnt/
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Excel/
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Msoxmled/
- https://medium.com/@reegun/unsanitized-file-validation-leads-to-malicious-payload-download-via-office-binaries-202d02db7191
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_office_arbitrary_cli_download.yml
Sources and licences
SigmaHQ
"Potential Arbitrary File Download Using Office Application" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Beyu Denis, oscd.community (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_office_arbitrary_cli_download.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Cite this page
Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Potential Arbitrary File Download Using Office Application",
entity page, dataset version ref-9dca4274dfc3, updated 2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/4ae3e30b-b03f-43aa-87e3-b622f4048eed (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 4ae3e30b-b03f-43aa-87e3-b622f4048eed, 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.