Techniques › T1480 › AN1554
AN1554 Analytic 1554
ESXi · attack.mitre.org · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2
<p>ESXi hypervisor environmental validation behavioral chain: (1) Virtual machine inventory and configuration enumeration through vim-cmd and esxcli commands, (2) Host hardware and network configuration discovery for hypervisor environment validation, (3) Datastore and storage configuration reconnaissance, (4) vCenter connectivity and cluster membership validation, (5) Selective malware deployment based on virtualization infrastructure characteristics and target VM validation</p>
- Detects
- T1480 Execution Guardrails
- Part of
- DET0562 Multi-Platform Execution Guardrails Environmental Validation Detection Strategy
Log sources and channels
Exactly as MITRE states them in x_mitre_log_source_references. Where a channel is vague, it is vague in the source; kevmap does not tidy it.
| Log source | Channel | Data component |
|---|---|---|
| esxi:shell | shell command execution for system discovery (vim-cmd, esxcli, vmware-cmd) targeting VM inventory and host configuration | DC0064 Command Execution |
| esxi:hostd | host daemon events related to VM operations and configuration queries during reconnaissance | DC0032 Process Creation |
Mutable elements
Parameters MITRE marks as environment-specific. These are the knobs you are expected to tune; they are why an analytic is not a rule.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
ESXiDiscoveryCommands | ESXi commands commonly used for hypervisor and VM reconnaissance |
VMInventoryEnumerationThreshold | Number of VM inventory queries within time window indicating reconnaissance activity |
HypervisorEnvironmentBaseline | Normal hypervisor management activity patterns for distinguishing malicious reconnaissance |
DatastoreAccessPatterns | Unusual datastore access patterns indicating environmental validation or target selection |