Malicious Black Basta ESXi Ransomware Volume Enumeration and Encryption via Command Line (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery → Impact

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1083File and Directory Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
- T1486Data Encrypted for Impact

What it detects

This rule detects command line execution that enumerates the ESXi datastore path under vmfs volumes together with the Black Basta encrypted file extension, matching the cross-platform Linux and ESXi variant of the ransomware. It is associated with the Black Basta ransomware targeting VMware ESXi as reported by Uptycs. Attackers scan virtual machine storage before mass encryption to maximize impact, so this pattern indicates an active hypervisor-level attack.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Backup and Recovery Destruction Chain via Dire Wolf Ransomware (via process_creation)

Malicious Dire Wolf Ransomware Encrypted File Extension on Disk (via file_event)

Malicious Lynx Ransomware Encryption Execution (via process_creation)

Malicious JADEPUFFER Lockd Encryptor Execution

Malicious Black Basta ESXi Ransomware Volume Enumeration and Encryption via Command Line (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1486 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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