chainsaw

name	chainsaw
description	Operate Chainsaw — a fast Windows event log (EVTX) analysis tool with Sigma rule integration for rapid threat hunting and incident response. Use when analyzing Windows event logs for lateral movement, credential access, persistence, execution, or defense evasion artifacts. Covers installation (cargo, releases), hunt mode with Sigma rules, search mode, dump mode, supported formats (EVTX, JSON), output formats (ASCII table, CSV, JSON), writing custom detection rules, key detection categories, and incident response triage workflows.
metadata	{"author":"redhoundinfosec","version":"1.0","repo":"https://github.com/WithSecureLabs/chainsaw","stars":"3.4k","language":"Rust"}

chainsaw Agent Skill

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Conducting incident response and need to triage Windows event logs quickly
• Running threat hunting exercises against collected EVTX files
• Processing Windows event logs from disk images or evidence collection
• Applying Sigma rules to event logs without a SIEM
• Searching for specific keywords, process names, or IOCs across large EVTX sets
• The user asks about Windows event log analysis, EVTX parsing, or Sigma detection

What Chainsaw Does

Chainsaw is a Rust-based CLI tool that reads Windows Event Log (EVTX) files and either hunts them against a library of Sigma detection rules or searches them for keywords/patterns. It is designed for speed — parsing millions of events in seconds — and produces structured output in ASCII table, CSV, or JSON format. In incident response engagements, Chainsaw replaces slow manual review in Windows Event Viewer when logs are collected offline.

Installation

Method 1 — Download Pre-compiled Release (recommended)

# Linux (x86_64)
VERSION=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/WithSecureLabs/chainsaw/releases/latest \
  | grep tag_name | cut -d '"' -f4)
wget "https://github.com/WithSecureLabs/chainsaw/releases/download/${VERSION}/chainsaw_x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz"
tar -xzf chainsaw_x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
chmod +x chainsaw

# Windows (x86_64)
# Download: chainsaw_x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip from releases page

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
# Download: chainsaw_aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz from releases page

# Verify
./chainsaw --version

Method 2 — Build from Source (Cargo)

# Install Rust toolchain if not present
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/WithSecureLabs/chainsaw.git
cd chainsaw
cargo build --release
# Binary at: ./target/release/chainsaw

Get Sigma Rules and Mappings

Chainsaw ships with its own rule set and mappings, but supplementing with upstream Sigma rules improves coverage significantly.

# Clone Sigma rules repository
git clone https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma.git

# Chainsaw's built-in rules and mappings (included in release)
ls chainsaw/
# chainsaw  mappings/  rules/  examples/
# mappings/ contains YAML files mapping Sigma fields to EVTX field names

Core Concepts

EVTX Format

Windows Event Log files (.evtx) are binary files containing structured XML records. Each record has:

• System.EventID — event type (e.g., 4624 = Logon, 4688 = Process Creation)
• System.TimeCreated — timestamp
• System.Computer — host that generated the event
• System.Channel — log channel (Security, System, Application, PowerShell, etc.)
• EventData — payload fields specific to the event type

Chainsaw parses EVTX files using the evtx Rust crate and converts records to JSON internally.

Sigma Rules

Sigma is a generic signature format for SIEM detection rules. A Sigma rule specifies:

• detection.selection — field/value conditions
• detection.condition — logical combination of selections
• logsource — which log channel/category the rule applies to

Chainsaw uses mapping files (mappings/) to translate Sigma's generic field names to EVTX's actual XML field paths, enabling direct application of Sigma rules to raw EVTX files.

Modes

Mode	Purpose
hunt	Apply Sigma rules to EVTX files; output matching events with rule names
search	Full-text or field-specific keyword search across EVTX files
dump	Convert EVTX files to JSON/CSV for external processing
analyse	Pre-built analysis modules (shimcache, shimdb, etc.)

CLI Reference

Hunt Mode

Hunt mode applies Sigma rules to event logs and surfaces matches with rule name, severity, and event detail.

# Basic hunt — apply all rules in rules/ directory to an EVTX directory
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml

# Hunt a single EVTX file
./chainsaw hunt Security.evtx -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml

# Hunt with specific Sigma rule file
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_psexec_execution.yml \
  -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml

# Hunt with output to JSON
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --output results.json --json

# Hunt with output to CSV
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --output results.csv --csv

# Hunt and show full event details (not just matching fields)
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml --full

# Hunt with timestamp range filter
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --from "2026-03-01 00:00:00" --to "2026-04-01 00:00:00"

# Hunt with minimum severity filter (informational, low, medium, high, critical)
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --level high

# Hunt with specific rule status (stable, test, experimental)
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --status stable

# Hunt and skip rule loading errors (useful with large mixed rule sets)
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --skip-errors

# Hunt with progress display
./chainsaw hunt EVTX_DIR/ -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml --progress

# Hunt multiple EVTX directories
./chainsaw hunt /mnt/evidence/C/Windows/System32/winevt/Logs/ \
  -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml --output hunt_results.json --json

Search Mode

Search mode does keyword or field-level search across all events without requiring Sigma rules.

# Search for a keyword across all events
./chainsaw search "mimikatz" EVTX_DIR/

# Search in a specific EVTX file
./chainsaw search "powershell" Security.evtx

# Case-insensitive search
./chainsaw search -i "cobalt strike" EVTX_DIR/

# Search using a regex pattern
./chainsaw search -e "cmd\.exe.*\/c.*whoami" EVTX_DIR/

# Search for specific Event IDs
./chainsaw search --event-id 4624 Security.evtx
./chainsaw search --event-id 4688 Security.evtx    # Process creation
./chainsaw search --event-id 7045 System.evtx       # Service installation

# Search with timestamp filter
./chainsaw search "lateral" EVTX_DIR/ \
  --from "2026-03-15 00:00:00" --to "2026-03-16 23:59:59"

# Search and output to JSON
./chainsaw search "powershell" EVTX_DIR/ --output search_results.json --json

# Search with field-specific match (tau syntax)
./chainsaw search --tau "EventID: 4624 AND LogonType: 3" Security.evtx

Dump Mode

Dump mode converts EVTX files to structured JSON or CSV for external analysis (Splunk, ELK, Excel).

# Dump all events from EVTX file to JSON
./chainsaw dump Security.evtx --json --output security_dump.json

# Dump to CSV
./chainsaw dump Security.evtx --csv --output security_dump.csv

# Dump multiple files
./chainsaw dump EVTX_DIR/ --json --output all_events.json

# Dump with timestamp range
./chainsaw dump Security.evtx --json \
  --from "2026-04-01 00:00:00" --to "2026-04-02 00:00:00" \
  --output incident_window.json

# Dump specific event IDs only
./chainsaw dump Security.evtx --json --event-id 4624 --output logon_events.json

Analyse Mode

Pre-built analysis for specific forensic artifacts.

# Analyse shimcache (application execution evidence)
./chainsaw analyse shimcache SYSTEM --output shimcache.json --json

# Analyse amcache (installed programs and execution)
./chainsaw analyse amcache Amcache.hve --output amcache.json --json

Key Detections and Event IDs

Lateral Movement

Event ID	Channel	Description	Sigma Rule Category
4624	Security	Successful logon (Type 3 = Network, Type 10 = Remote Interactive)	lateral_movement
4648	Security	Logon with explicit credentials (Pass-the-Hash indicator)	credential_access
7045	System	New service installed (PsExec creates services)	lateral_movement
4698	Security	Scheduled task created	persistence

Credential Access

Event ID	Channel	Description
4661	Security	SAM/LSA object access (credential dumping)
4663	Security	Object access — NTDS.dit, SAM hive access
4769	Security	Kerberos service ticket request (Kerberoasting: RC4 enc type)
4768	Security	Kerberos TGT request
4771	Security	Kerberos pre-auth failure (brute force)

Execution and PowerShell

Event ID	Channel	Description
4688	Security	Process creation (requires audit policy)
4104	PowerShell	Script block logging — full PS command
4103	PowerShell	Module logging
400/403	PowerShell	Engine start/stop

Persistence

Event ID	Channel	Description
4698	Security	Scheduled task created
4702	Security	Scheduled task updated
7045	System	New service registered
4657	Security	Registry value modified (Run keys, etc.)

Defense Evasion

Event ID	Channel	Description
1102	Security	Audit log cleared
104	System	System log cleared
4719	Security	Audit policy changed

Incident Response Workflow

Step 1 — Evidence Collection

# Collect all EVTX files from live or imaged Windows system
# Default location: C:\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs\
# Copy to analysis machine

Step 2 — Initial Hunt (High Severity)

mkdir -p ir_results/

# Hunt for high/critical severity only — fast initial triage
./chainsaw hunt /evidence/Logs/ \
  -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --level high --json --output ir_results/high_sev_hits.json

# Review hits immediately
cat ir_results/high_sev_hits.json | jq '.[].name' | sort -u

Step 3 — Targeted Event ID Search

# Build timeline of specific events
# Logon events
./chainsaw dump /evidence/Logs/Security.evtx --json --event-id 4624 \
  --output ir_results/logon_events.json

# Process creation
./chainsaw dump /evidence/Logs/Security.evtx --json --event-id 4688 \
  --output ir_results/process_creation.json

# PowerShell script blocks
./chainsaw dump /evidence/Logs/Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell%4Operational.evtx \
  --json --event-id 4104 --output ir_results/powershell_scriptblocks.json

Step 4 — IOC Search

# Search for known IOCs
./chainsaw search -i "C2_domain.com" /evidence/Logs/ \
  --json --output ir_results/ioc_c2.json

./chainsaw search -e "(cobalt|cobaltstrike|beacon\.dll)" /evidence/Logs/ \
  --json --output ir_results/ioc_cobalt.json

./chainsaw search "net user" /evidence/Logs/ \
  --from "2026-04-01 00:00:00" --json --output ir_results/net_user_cmds.json

Step 5 — Full Dump for Timeline

# Dump all events to JSON for import into timeline tool or SIEM
./chainsaw dump /evidence/Logs/ --json --output ir_results/full_evtx_dump.json

# Or CSV for Excel/timeline analysis
./chainsaw dump /evidence/Logs/ --csv --output ir_results/full_evtx_dump.csv

Custom Detection Rules

Write Sigma rules targeting specific TTPs. Example — detecting PsExec service installation:

# rules/custom/detect_psexec_service.yml
title: PsExec Service Installation
status: stable
description: Detects PSEXESVC service creation indicative of PsExec lateral movement
logsource:
  product: windows
  service: system
detection:
  selection:
    EventID: 7045
    ServiceName: 'PSEXESVC'
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate PsExec use by administrators
level: high
tags:
  - attack.lateral_movement
  - attack.t1569.002

# Apply custom rule
./chainsaw hunt /evidence/Logs/System.evtx \
  -s rules/custom/detect_psexec_service.yml \
  -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml

Integration with Other Tools

With Velociraptor / KAPE Evidence Collections

# KAPE collects EVTX files into structured output dir
# Point chainsaw at KAPE's EVTX output
./chainsaw hunt KAPE_Output/C/Windows/System32/winevt/Logs/ \
  -s rules/ -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml \
  --json --output chainsaw_kape_results.json

With Hayabusa (complementary tool)

Chainsaw focuses on Sigma rules; Hayabusa is another EVTX tool with its own rule format. Run both for maximum detection coverage, then merge JSON outputs for timeline analysis.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Fix
No events found	EVTX path wrong	Verify path; check ls EVTX_DIR/*.evtx
Rule parse error	Incompatible Sigma rule version	Use --skip-errors flag
Mapping file not found	Missing -m flag	Always specify -m mappings/sigma-event-logs-all.yml
Very slow hunt	Large EVTX set, many rules	Filter by --level high, use --from/--to
Empty JSON output	No matches	Normal; reduce --level threshold, check rule coverage
Permission denied on EVTX	Locked by OS	Copy EVTX files off live system with VSS shadow copy
Binary not found on Windows	Missing VC++ runtime	Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable

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Related reading: Your Company Just Got Hit with Ransomware: A 48-Hour Survival Playbook for SMBs

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