- AN1537 · Analytic 1537 — Detects suspicious use of ESXi native CLI tools like esxcli and vim-cmd by unauthorized users or outside expected maintenance windows. Focus is on actions such as stopping VMs, reconfiguring network/firewall settings, and enabling SSH or logging.
Hypervisor CLI
Adversaries may abuse hypervisor command line interpreters (CLIs) to execute malicious commands. Hypervisor CLIs typically enable a wide variety of functionality for managing both the hypervisor itself and the guest virtual machines it hosts. For example, on ESXi systems, tools such as `esxcli` and `vim-cmd` allow administrators to configure firewall rules and log forwarding on the hypervisor, list virtual machines, start and stop virtual machines, and more.(Citation: Broadcom ESXCLI Reference)(Citation: Crowdstrike Hypervisor Jackpotting Pt 2 2021)(Citation: LOLESXi) Adversaries may be able to leverage these tools in order to support further actions, such as [File and Directory Discovery](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1083) or [Data Encrypted for Impact](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1486).
Open in the interactive knowledge mesh
Detection overview
Use the published detection strategies below and validate required telemetry in the target environment.
Observed groups
Cyber Knowledge context
Use these routes to move from the ATT&CK behavior into explanation, implementation, evidence handling, validation, and defensive operations. Relevance is generated from explicit identifiers/names and governed topic mappings; it is not attribution evidence.
Module 5 — Cloud, containers, and Kubernetes
Red Team & Offensive Security · tactic-route · 24/100Static triage: strings, imports, resources, and capabilities
Malware Analysis & Reverse Engineering · tactic-route · 24/100Module 4 — Detection engineering and detection as code
Blue Team & Defensive Security · tactic-route · 24/100
Red Team & Offensive Security · tactic-route · 24/100Static triage: strings, imports, resources, and capabilities
Malware Analysis & Reverse Engineering · tactic-route · 24/100Module 4 — Detection engineering and detection as code
Blue Team & Defensive Security · tactic-route · 24/100
MITRE mitigations
No ATT&CK mitigation relationship is published for this technique. Apply risk-based controls and verify scope.