Detection: Wevtutil Usage To Disable Logs
Description
This search is to detect execution of wevtutil.exe to disable logs. This technique was seen in several ransomware to disable the event logs to evade alerts and detections in compromised host.
Annotations
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Implementation
You must be ingesting data that records process activity from your hosts to populate the Endpoint data model in the Processes node. You must also be ingesting logs with both the process name and command line from your endpoints. The command-line arguments are mapped to the "process" field in the Endpoint data model.
Known False Positives
network operator may disable audit event logs for debugging purposes.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
| Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| A wevtutil process $process_file_name$ with commandline $process_cmd_line$ to disable event logs in host $device_hostname$ | 63 | 70 | 90 |
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.
References
Version: 5