7-Zip RAR5 MotW Bypass: 7z.exe Extracting Executable or Script Files

Ibrahim Saud@tektrix

•updated Jun 30, 2026•0•0•12

Detects the extraction of executable, script, or macro-enabled files from archives using 7-Zip utilities. This behavior is notable because 7-Zip often fails to propagate the Mark-of-the-Web (MotW) Zone.Identifier Alternate Data Stream (ADS) to extracted files, which can bypass Windows SmartScreen and security zone protections upon subsequent execution of the extracted files.