Sigma rule: Office Macro File Creation

Rule

Title

Office Macro File Creation

Status

test

Level

low

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-01-23

Modified

2026-01-09

File

rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_office_macro_files_created.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the creation of a new office macro files on the systems

Log source

product

windows

category

file_event

Detection

selection:
    TargetFilename|endswith:
        - '.docm'
        - '.dotm'
        - '.xlsm'
        - '.xltm'
        - '.potm'
        - '.pptm'
filter_main_office:
    Image|startswith:
        - 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\'
        - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\'
    Image|endswith:
        - '\WINWORD.EXE'
        - '\EXCEL.EXE'
        - '\POWERPNT.EXE'
    TargetFilename|contains: '\~$' # Temporary files created by Office applications
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Very common in environments that rely heavily on macro documents

Tags

• attack.initial-access
• attack.t1566.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1566.001

Related rules

• 0e29e3a7-1ad8-40aa-b691-9f82ecd33d66 (similar)

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1566.001/T1566.001.md
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/compat/office-file-format-reference

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_macro_files_created.yml