sigmahighHunting

Disable of ETW Trace - Powershell

Detects usage of powershell cmdlets to disable or remove ETW trace sessions

MITRE ATT&CK

Detection Query

selection_pwsh_remove:
  ScriptBlockText|contains: "Remove-EtwTraceProvider "
selection_pwsh_set_hex:
  ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
    - "Set-EtwTraceProvider "
    - "0x11"
selection_pwsh_set_dec:
  - ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
      - "Set-EtwTraceProvider "
      - " 17"
  - ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
      - "Set-EtwTraceProvider "
      - “'17'”
  - ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
      - "Set-EtwTraceProvider "
      - ”17”
condition: 1 of selection_*

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-06-28

Data Sources

windowsps_script

Platforms

windows

References

https://medium.com/palantir/tampering-with-windows-event-tracing-background-offense-and-defense-4be7ac62ac63

Tags

attack.stealthattack.defense-impairmentattack.t1070attack.t1685car.2016-04-002

Raw Content

title: Disable of ETW Trace - Powershell
id: 115fdba9-f017-42e6-84cf-d5573bf2ddf8
related:
    - id: a238b5d0-ce2d-4414-a676-7a531b3d13d6
      type: derived
status: test
description: Detects usage of powershell cmdlets to disable or remove ETW trace sessions
references:
    - https://medium.com/palantir/tampering-with-windows-event-tracing-background-offense-and-defense-4be7ac62ac63
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-06-28
modified: 2026-10-12
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1070
    - attack.t1685
    - car.2016-04-002
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: ps_script
    definition: 'Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enabled'
detection:
    selection_pwsh_remove:   # Autologger provider removal
        ScriptBlockText|contains: 'Remove-EtwTraceProvider '
    selection_pwsh_set_hex:   # Provider “Enable” property modification (hex form)
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - 'Set-EtwTraceProvider '
            - '0x11'
    selection_pwsh_set_dec:   # Provider “Enable” property modification (decimal form, equivalent to 0x11)
        - ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
              - 'Set-EtwTraceProvider '
              - ' 17'
        - ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
              - 'Set-EtwTraceProvider '
              - “'17'”
        - ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
              - 'Set-EtwTraceProvider '
              - '”17”'
    condition: 1 of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high