Possible Ransomware Pre-Encryption VM Termination via esxcli

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 use of esxcli to force kill running virtual machines, a step ransomware performs on ESXi hosts to unlock VM disk files before encryption. Multiple studied families run vm process kill with type force to stop guests prior to mass encryption. Detecting it can interrupt the attack before data is locked.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1489 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Service Termination via Net Stop Before Ransomware (via process_creation)

Malicious Lynx Ransomware Encryptor Execution via Distinctive CLI Flags (via process_creation)

Malicious Termination of Veeam Backup Services

Possible Akira Ransomware VM Shutdown via vim-cmd

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)

Possible Ransomware Pre-Encryption VM Termination via esxcli

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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