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Delete Volume USN Journal with Fsutil

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Delete Volume USN Journal with Fsutil

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Identifies use of the fsutil.exe to delete the volume USNJRNL. This technique is used by attackers to eliminate evidence of files created during post-exploitation activities.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

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
Elastic Endgame

Version: 102 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.6.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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Rule query

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process where event.type == "start" and (process.name : "fsutil.exe"
or process.pe.original_file_name == "fsutil.exe") and process.args :
"deletejournal" and process.args : "usn"

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 102 (8.6.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 101 (8.5.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
(process.name : "fsutil.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name ==
"fsutil.exe") and process.args : "deletejournal" and process.args :
"usn"

Version 12 (8.4.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
(process.name : "fsutil.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name ==
"fsutil.exe") and process.args : "deletejournal" and process.args :
"usn"

Version 10 (8.2.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 9 (7.13.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and
process.name:fsutil.exe and process.args:(deletejournal and usn)

Version 8 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 7 (7.11.2 release)

Formatting only

Version 6 (7.11.0 release)

Formatting only

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:fsutil.exe and process.args:(deletejournal and usn)

Version 2 (7.7.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.action:"Process Create (rule: ProcessCreate)" and
process.name:"fsutil.exe" and process.args:("usn" and "deletejournal")

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