Malicious ESXi Virtual Machine Termination via esxcli (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Impact

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
- T1489Service Stop

What it detects

This rule detects enumeration and forced termination of running virtual machines through esxcli vm process list and esxcli vm process kill commands. The Linux variant of Helldown ransomware uses this technique to stop VMs before encrypting their datastore files on ESXi hosts. Killing virtual machine worlds ensures files are unlocked so the ransomware can encrypt them and disrupt the entire virtualized environment.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1489 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Massive Processes Termination Burst (via process_creation)

Malicious Service Deactivation - Command (via process_creation)

Malicious ESXi Virtual Machine Termination and Snapshot Removal

Malicious Stopping of Security or Backup Services Before Impact (via process_creation)

Malicious Massive Services Deletion Burst (via process_creation)

Malicious Security Service Tampering via wmic PathName Query (via process_creation)

Suspicious GhostLocker Watchdog Process Execution (via process_creation)

Malicious ESXi Virtual Machine Termination and Snapshot Removal via esxcli and vim-cmd (via process_creation)

Malicious Massive Services Termination Burst (via process_creation)

Malicious ESXi Virtual Machine Termination via esxcli (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1489 · 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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