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Disable Windows Event and Security Logs Using Built-in Tools

Elastic Stack Serverless Security

Identifies attempts to disable EventLog via the logman Windows utility, PowerShell, or auditpol. This is often done by attackers in an attempt to evade detection on a system.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • winlogbeat-*
  • logs-endpoint.events.*
  • logs-windows.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/common-options.html#date-math[Date Math format], see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Defense Evasion

Version: 3

Rule authors:

  • Elastic
  • Ivan Ninichuck
  • Austin Songer

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2, events will not define event.ingested and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until 8.2, so you will need to add a custom pipeline to populate event.ingested to @timestamp for this rule to work.

Rule query

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and

  ((process.name:"logman.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name == "Logman.exe") and
      process.args : "EventLog-*" and process.args : ("stop", "delete")) or

  ((process.name : ("pwsh.exe", "powershell.exe", "powershell_ise.exe") or process.pe.original_file_name in
      ("pwsh.exe", "powershell.exe", "powershell_ise.exe")) and
	process.args : "Set-Service" and process.args: "EventLog" and process.args : "Disabled")  or

  ((process.name:"auditpol.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name == "AUDITPOL.EXE") and process.args : "/success:disable")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM