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Windows event log cleared with wevtutil (T1685.005)

SIGhighconfidence 80/100generated 2026-10-18

wevtutil.exe clearing an event log (cl / clear-log) — removing the evidence trail after intrusion activity. Observed for: APT28, APT32, Chimera, ENERGETIC BEAR, FIN5, FIN8 and 5 more.

ATT&CK
T1685.005 mitre ↗
Linked actors
APT28 · APT32 · Chimera · ENERGETIC BEAR · FIN5 · FIN8 · HAFNIUM · INDRIK SPIDER · MirrorFace · play · Volt Typhoon
False positives
Only the clear verbs match; wevtutil queries, exports and log configuration do not.

Sigma rule

skopnix-sigma-ttp-t1685-005-127f1b14.ymldownload .yml ↓
title: Skopnix - Windows event log cleared with wevtutil (T1685.005)
id: 02861f35-120c-5fdd-8570-f4cb510894e4
status: experimental
description: 'wevtutil.exe clearing an event log (cl / clear-log) — removing the evidence trail after intrusion activity. Observed for: APT28, APT32, Chimera, ENERGETIC BEAR, FIN5, FIN8 and 5 more.'
references:
  - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1685/005/
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/apt28
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/apt32
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/chimera
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/energetic-bear
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/fin5
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/fin8
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/hafnium
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/indrik-spider
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/mirrorface
  - https://skopnix.com/actors/play
author: skopnix
date: '2026-10-18'
tags:
  - attack.defense-impairment
  - attack.t1685.005
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    Image|endswith: \wevtutil.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
      - ' cl '
      - ' clear-log '
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Lab or golden-image build scripts that reset logs (scope out build hosts)
level: high

How to deploy on Sigma

  1. 1.Convert for your SIEM with sigma-cli / pySigma, e.g. sigma convert -t splunk -p sysmon rule.yml.
  2. 2.Run it as a hunt first: every rule ships as status experimental.
  3. 3.Promote to an alert once a week of results is clean on your data.

Check · The processing pipeline must map the logsource (firewall, dns, proxy, webserver, process_creation) to your field names.

References