Suspicious VM Run Command Execution in Azure
- Product
- azure
- Service
- activitylogs
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-18
- Updated
- 2026-10-18
ATT&CK techniques
ExecutionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects invocation of Azure Virtual Machine run commands that execute operator supplied scripts on a VM through the management plane. Adversaries with valid Azure credentials abuse runCommands to gain code execution on workloads without network-level access as covered in Unit 42 cloud VM attack path research. Detecting these operations exposes control-plane driven execution on virtual machines.
Reporting behind it
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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Also included
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