Sigma rule: AppX Located in Known Staging Directory Added to Deployment Pipeline

Rule

Title

AppX Located in Known Staging Directory Added to Deployment Pipeline

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-01-11

File

rules/windows/builtin/appxdeployment_server/win_appxdeployment_server_appx_package_in_staging_directory.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects an appx package that was added to the pipeline of the "to be processed" packages that is located in a known folder often used as a staging directory.

Log source

product

windows

service

appxdeployment-server

Detection

selection_eid:
    EventID: 854
selection_paths_forward:
    Path|contains: # Paths can be written using forward slash if the "file://" protocol is used
        - ':/Perflogs/'
        - ':/Users/Public/'
        - ':/Windows/Temp/'
        - '/AppdData/Local/Temp/'
        - '/Desktop/'
        - '/Downloads/'
selection_paths_back:
    Path|contains: # Paths can be written using forward slash if the "file://" protocol is used
        - ':\PerfLogs\'
        - ':\Users\Public\'
        - ':\Windows\Temp\'
        - '\AppdData\Local\Temp\'
        - '\Desktop\'
        - '\Downloads\'
condition: selection_eid and 1 of selection_paths_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.stealth

References

• https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/inside-malicious-windows-apps-for-malware-deployment/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/appxpkg/troubleshooting
• https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2021/11/11/bazarloader-call-me-back-attack-abuses-windows-10-apps-mechanism/

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/builtin/appxdeployment_server/win_appxdeployment_server_appx_package_in_staging_directory.yml