Suspicious Autorun Persistence Masquerading as VMware NAT Service

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
Priv Esc
- T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a Run key value named VMware NAT Service being created under the current user hive, a persistence method used by Gh0stBins RAT to masquerade as the legitimate VMware NAT service. The genuine VMware service does not register user-level Run key persistence.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1547.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Internet Shortcut URL File Registered for Run Key Persistence (via registry_set)

Malicious Run Key Persistence Named SystemAgentService

Suspicious Run Key Persistence Pointing to ProgramData Executable (via registry_set)

Suspicious Run Key Persistence Pointing to WScript via PhantomVAI Loader (via registry_set)

Suspicious Run Key Persistence Named Updater

Suspicious Run Key Persistence Executing VBScript as WindowsSecurityCheck

Suspicious RunOnce Persistence Pointing to User AppData

Malicious FalseFont Backdoor Run Key Persistence from AppData (via registry_set)

Malicious Registry Run Key Persistence via AHealthDB by Stately Taurus

Suspicious Autorun Persistence Masquerading as VMware NAT Service

Pivot detection · T1547.001 · 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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