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Clearing Windows Event Logs

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Clearing Windows Event Logs

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Identifies attempts to clear Windows event log stores. This is often done by attackers in an attempt to evade detection or destroy forensic evidence on a system.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Defense Evasion

Version: 7 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.2

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License

Rule query

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event.category:process and event.type:(process_started or start) and
(process.name:"wevtutil.exe" or
process.pe.original_file_name:"wevtutil.exe") and
process.args:("/e:false" or cl or "clear-log") or
process.name:"powershell.exe" and process.args:"Clear-EventLog"

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Indicator Removal on Host
- ID: T1070
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1070/

Rule version history

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Version 7 (7.11.2 release)

Formatting only

Version 6 (7.11.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and
process.name:wevtutil.exe and process.args:cl or
process.name:powershell.exe and process.args:Clear-EventLog

Version 5 (7.10.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 4 (7.9.1 release)

Formatting only

Version 3 (7.9.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.action:"Process Create (rule: ProcessCreate)" and
process.name:wevtutil.exe and process.args:cl or
process.name:powershell.exe and process.args:Clear-EventLog

Version 2 (7.7.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.action:"Process Create (rule: ProcessCreate)" and
(process.name:"wevtutil.exe" and process.args:"cl") or
(process.name:"powershell.exe" and process.args:"Clear-EventLog")

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