Detection rules › Sigma
ESXi Admin Permission Assigned To Account Via ESXCLI
Detects execution of the "esxcli" command with the "system" and "permission" flags in order to assign admin permissions to an account.
Known false positives
- Legitimate administration activities
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | |
| Persistence | |
| Privilege Escalation |
Telemetry coverage
| Platform | Record / event type |
|---|---|
| Linux | Event ID 1: Process Create |
Rule body
title: ESXi Admin Permission Assigned To Account Via ESXCLI
id: 9691f58d-92c1-4416-8bf3-2edd753ec9cf
status: test
description: Detects execution of the "esxcli" command with the "system" and "permission" flags in order to assign admin permissions to an account.
references:
- https://developer.broadcom.com/xapis/esxcli-command-reference/7.0.0/namespace/esxcli_system.html
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-09-04
tags:
- attack.persistence
- attack.execution
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.t1059.012
- attack.t1098
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: linux
detection:
selection:
Image|endswith: '/esxcli'
CommandLine|contains: 'system'
CommandLine|contains|all:
- ' permission '
- ' set'
- 'Admin'
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate administration activities
level: high
Stages and Predicates
Stage 0: condition
selectionStage 1: selection
selection:
Image|endswith: '/esxcli'
CommandLine|contains: 'system'
CommandLine|contains|all:
- ' permission '
- ' set'
- 'Admin'
Indicators
These rows show field, operator, and value matches.
| Field | Kind | Values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
CommandLine | match |
| field:"CommandLine" kind:match |
Image | ends_with |
| field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"/esxcli" |