1200KM / simulation
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts. For example, Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) specification defines an XML-based format for Office documents (.docx, xlsx, .pptx) to replace older binary formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt). OOXML files are packed together ZIP archives compromised of various XML files, referred to as parts, containing properties that…
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts. For example, Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) specification defines an XML-based format for Office documents (.docx, xlsx, .pptx) to replace older binary formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt). OOXML files are packed together ZIP archives compromised of various XML files, referred to as parts, containing properties that collectively define how a document is rendered.[Microsoft Open XML July 2017]
Properties within parts may reference shared public resources accessed via online URLs. For example, template properties may reference a file, serving as a pre-formatted document blueprint, that is fetched when the document is loaded.
Adversaries may abuse these templates to initially conceal malicious code to be executed via user documents. Template references injected into a document may enable malicious payloads to be fetched and executed when the document is loaded.[SANS Brian Wiltse Template Injection] These documents can be delivered via other techniques such as Phishing and/or Taint Shared Content and may evade static detections since no typical indicators (VBA macro, script, etc.) are present until after the malicious payload is fetched.[Redxorblue Remote Template Injection] Examples have been seen in the wild where template injection was used to load malicious code containing an exploit.[MalwareBytes Template Injection OCT 2017]
Adversaries may also modify the <code>*\template</code> control word within an .rtf file to similarly conceal then download malicious code. This legitimate control word value is intended to be a file destination of a template file resource that is retrieved and loaded when an .rtf file is opened. However, adversaries may alter the bytes of an existing .rtf file to insert a template control word field to include a URL resource of a malicious payload.[Proofpoint RTF Injection][Ciberseguridad Decoding malicious RTF files]
This technique may also enable Forced Authentication by injecting a SMB/HTTPS (or other credential prompting) URL and triggering an authentication attempt.[Anomali Template Injection MAR 2018][Talos Template Injection July 2017][ryhanson phishery SEPT 2016]
Official technique definition · Open in the interactive matrix
These contracts are selected through exact technique-to-data-component relationships or explicitly labelled planning overrides. Configure a collector at the relevant observation point; a telemetry name alone is not coverage.
DC0082 collection page — Enable scoped Sysmon NetworkConnect (3), disabled by default, or a platform-equivalent process-aware network sensor.
Required normalized fields: process_guid, destination_ip, destination_port, protocol, initiated.
Project-normalized synthetic JSON, not a native provider log, captured event, attack verdict or validated detection. A parser/adapter is required for a real SIEM. Example names, IPs and values are fictional.
{
"schema": "1200km.telemetry.example.v1",
"synthetic": true,
"timestamp": "2026-09-27T12:00:00Z",
"telemetry_id": "DC0082",
"collector": "illustrative-lab-collector",
"observation": {
"process_guid": "lab-process-001",
"destination_ip": "198.51.100.20",
"destination_port": 443,
"protocol": "tcp",
"initiated": true
}
}Visibility limits: Event filtering and sensor versions change coverage. High-volume image-load and process-access collection needs tuning; endpoint events alone do not establish intent.
DC0032 collection page — Collect Sysmon ProcessCreate (1); preserve ProcessGuid and parent identifiers. Security 4688 is an alternative with separate audit/command-line settings.
Required normalized fields: process_guid, image, parent_image, command_line, user.
<EventFiltering>
<ProcessCreate onmatch="include">
<Image condition="is">C:\Windows\System32\whoami.exe</Image>
</ProcessCreate>
</EventFiltering>This fragment only selects the named process. It is not a complete production policy. Inspect the installed schema with sysmon64 -s; preserve existing rules, then apply the reviewed complete configuration with sysmon64 -c <configuration-file>.
Project-normalized synthetic JSON, not a native provider log, captured event, attack verdict or validated detection. A parser/adapter is required for a real SIEM. Example names, IPs and values are fictional.
{
"schema": "1200km.telemetry.example.v1",
"synthetic": true,
"timestamp": "2026-09-27T12:00:00Z",
"telemetry_id": "DC0032",
"collector": "illustrative-lab-collector",
"observation": {
"process_guid": "lab-process-001",
"image": "C:\\Windows\\System32\\whoami.exe",
"parent_image": "C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe",
"command_line": "whoami",
"user": "LAB\\analyst"
}
}Visibility limits: Event filtering and sensor versions change coverage. High-volume image-load and process-access collection needs tuning; endpoint events alone do not establish intent.
Open the dedicated detection workspace · Existing query engineering
Detection of Office or document viewer processes (e.g., winword.exe) initiating network connections to remote templates or executing scripts due to manipulated template references (e.g., embedded in .docx, .rtf, or .dotm files), followed by suspicious child process creation (e.g., PowerShell).
Platforms: Windows.
1 exact-tagged source rules. A source tag is a discovery aid, not a relevance verdict. Check the observation point and actual condition of each rule.
No exact technique-specific Atlas model is present for T1221 in the selected source snapshot. The following is a design worksheet, not a newly validated model.
Start from the exact analytic above. The collection-specific lenses below are analyst recommendations; they do not assert that an arbitrary statistical deviation detects this technique.
Anomaly Detection Atlas · Baseline, validation and blind spots
No reviewed lab-tool association is selected for this exact technique. This is a curation gap, not a statement that no tool can implement the behavior.
These are exact ATT&CK software-use relationships, including malware. They provide behavior context, not recommendations to download or execute malware. No safety or detector claim is inherited.
Chaes changed the template target of the settings.xml file embedded in the Word document and populated that field with the downloaded URL of the next payload.[Cybereason Chaes Nov 2020]
Exact relationship: relationship--9c22b1e4-df62-417d-a64f-c6f690ebe566WarzoneRAT has been install via template injection through a malicious DLL embedded within a template RTF in a Word document.[Uptycs Confucius APT Jan 2021]
Exact relationship: relationship--d04d88d0-541d-4da2-ac58-888f1d418f20Atomic evidence: 1 compatible documented candidates. Live lab status: not run for these imported procedures.
Use disposable lab hosts and test accounts, explicit target allowlists, a clean snapshot, bounded egress and a restore plan. Review every candidate and dependency before any execution.
Open a .docx file that loads a remote .dotm macro enabled template from https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/tree/master/atomics/T1221/src/opencalc.dotm
Executes the code specified within the .dotm template.
Requires download of WINWORD found in Microsoft Ofiice at Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/office.aspx.
Default docs file opens Calculator.exe when test sucessfully executed, while AV turned off.
Pinned Atomic procedure · 1489e08a-82c7-44ee-b769-51b72d03521d · windows · command_prompt.
Elevation: not declared required. Cleanup: not declared. This is source documentation, not an execution approval.
docx_file: Location of the test docx file on the local filesystem. (type path; source default PathToAtomicsFolder\T1221\src\Calculator.docx)Review the upstream command, dependencies and cleanup at the source link. Source defaults may refer to real infrastructure or destructive actions; they are not authorized targets. No automatic install, prerequisite download or command execution is provided.
Download synthetic collection fixture (JSON) · Download the complete engineering workbook
This fixture exercises the listed collection fields. It does not reproduce Template Injection, label its example events as malicious, or measure detection effectiveness. Use the exact analytic and selected procedure to build an independently labelled behavior-positive dataset.
Not run in this browser. No network scan or attack command is executed by this control.
All-page audit and evidence inventory · This page’s machine-readable workbook
Pinned MITRE STIX source · SHA-256 81113ba98afa2928f3dcff62022539f7ce30c315c32e14422f11ff95ce534352. Definition and procedure context are reproduced from this snapshot, not independently re-investigated incidents.
Train users to identify social engineering techniques and spearphishing emails that could be used to deliver malicious documents.
Network/Host intrusion prevention systems, antivirus, and detonation chambers can be employed to prevent documents from fetching and/or executing malicious payloads.[Anomali Template Injection MAR 2018]
Consider disabling Microsoft Office macros/active content to prevent the execution of malicious payloads in documents [Microsoft Disable Macros], though this setting may not mitigate the Forced Authentication use for this technique.
Network/Host intrusion prevention systems, antivirus, and detonation chambers can be employed to prevent documents from fetching and/or executing malicious payloads.[Anomali Template Injection MAR 2018]
Source procedure platform / method / executor tags:
No reviewed association in this snapshot.
These are explicit actor-to-technique associations in the existing Threat Matrix snapshot, not attribution of an event or proof that a detector identifies the actor. No tool-to-actor relationship is inferred.
Pinned research references. No browser attack runner or production-validated detector is asserted. Imported procedures remain unvalidated; any bounded lab evidence has its own scope. ATT&CK / Atomic provenance · Detection provenance.