Elastic Security Detection Rules

System Log File Deletion

Last updated 9 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 5 years ago on 2020-11-03

About

Identifies the deletion of sensitive Linux system logs. This may indicate an attempt to evade detection or destroy forensic evidence on a system.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Indicator Removal (T1070)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
auditbeat-*endgame-*logs-endpoint.events.file*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "deletion" and
  file.path :
    (
    "/var/run/utmp",
    "/var/log/wtmp",
    "/var/log/btmp",
    "/var/log/lastlog",
    "/var/log/faillog",
    "/var/log/syslog",
    "/var/log/messages",
    "/var/log/secure",
    "/var/log/auth.log",
    "/var/log/boot.log",
    "/var/log/kern.log",
    "/var/log/dmesg"
    ) and
    not process.name in ("gzip", "executor", "dockerd")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect System Log File Deletion in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).