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ESXI Discovery via Grep

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ESXI Discovery via Grep

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Identifies instances where a process named grep, egrep, or pgrep is started on a Linux system with arguments related to virtual machine (VM) files, such as "vmdk", "vmx", "vmxf", "vmsd", "vmsn", "vswp", "vmss", "nvram", or "vmem". These file extensions are associated with VM-related file formats, and their presence in grep command arguments may indicate that a threat actor is attempting to search for, analyze, or manipulate VM files on the system.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/massive-esxiargs-ransomware-attack-targets-vmware-esxi-servers-worldwide/

Tags:

Domain: Endpoint
OS: Linux
Use Case: Threat Detection
Tactic: Discovery
Data Source: Elastic Defend

Version: 3

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and
process.name in ("grep", "egrep", "pgrep") and
process.args in ("vmdk", "vmx", "vmxf", "vmsd", "vmsn", "vswp", "vmss", "nvram", "vmem")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Discovery
- ID: TA0007
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/
Technique:
- Name: Software Discovery
- ID: T1518
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1518/

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