title: Fsutil Suspicious Invocation
id: add64136-62e5-48ea-807e-88638d02df1e
status: stable
description: Detects suspicious parameters of fsutil (deleting USN journal, configuring it with small size, etc). Might be used by ransomwares during the attack (seen by NotPetya and others).
author: Ecco, E.M. Anhaus, oscd.community
references:
  - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fsutil-usn
  - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1070/T1070.md
  - https://eqllib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/analytics/c91f422a-5214-4b17-8664-c5fcf115c0a2.html
date: 2019/09/26
modified: 2021/11/27
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  binary_1:
    Image|endswith: '\fsutil.exe'
  binary_2:
    OriginalFileName: 'fsutil.exe'
  selection:
    CommandLine|contains:
      - 'deletejournal'        # usn deletejournal ==> generally ransomware or attacker
      - 'createjournal'        # usn createjournal ==> can modify config to set it to a tiny size
  condition: (1 of binary_*) and selection
falsepositives:
  - Admin activity
  - Scripts and administrative tools used in the monitored environment
level: high
tags:
  - attack.defense_evasion
  - attack.t1070
