Suspicious Clearing of System Logs on Linux (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects commands that delete or truncate files under /var/log, an indicator-removal technique used to erase evidence of intrusion on Linux hosts. Clearing system logs is tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting this activity surfaces anti-forensic log destruction.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685.006 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Deletion of System Logs Under var log on Linux Appliance

Malicious Sed Tampering of Juniper Syslog Configuration by UNC3886 (via process_creation)

Suspicious Clearing of Linux Authentication and History Logs

Suspicious Linux Log Sanitization via sed In-Place Edit

Suspicious utmpdump Usage for wtmp Log Manipulation

Linux auditd: Clear kernel ring buffer via syslog syscall (action 5/4/6)

Linux Syslog Clearing or Removal Using System Utilities

macOS Host Indicator Removal via rm/unlink/shred of Local Log Paths

Linux process attempts to delete log files using rm, rmdir, shred, or unlink

Suspicious Clearing of System Logs on Linux (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1685.006 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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