VMware ESXi - Root impersonation

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1h
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

'Detects when root impersonation occurs.'

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Privilege Escalation	`T1078` Valid Accounts

Rule body

id: 23a3cf72-9497-408e-8144-87958a60d31a
name: VMware ESXi - Root impersonation
description: |
  'Detects when root impersonation occurs.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SyslogAma
    datatypes:
      - Syslog
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1078
query: |
  VMwareESXi
  | where SyslogMessage has_all ('ImpersonateUser', 'VcIntegrity', 'root')
  | extend user = 'root'
  | extend AccountCustomEntity = user
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountCustomEntity
version: 1.0.2
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

VMwareESXi

Stage 2: `where`

| where SyslogMessage has_all ('ImpersonateUser', 'VcIntegrity', 'root')

Stage 3: `extend`

| extend user = 'root'

Stage 4: `extend`

| extend AccountCustomEntity = user

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`SyslogMessage`	match	`ImpersonateUser` transforms: `term` `VcIntegrity` transforms: `term` `root` transforms: `term`	`field:"SyslogMessage" kind:match`

Output fields

These fields are emitted when the rule matches.

Field	Source
`user`	`extend`
`AccountCustomEntity`	`extend`

VMware ESXi - Root impersonation

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: extend

Stage 4: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `extend`

Stage 4: `extend`