ESXi Admin Permission Assigned To Account Via ESXCLI — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems). Source status: test; severity: high. Source dates: 2023-09-04 / not supplied.

{
  "category": "process_creation",
  "product": "linux"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: 007174648038642fcb3d2b14cf0582181d232d448d4d19712cdabaf536bad07a

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

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

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Legitimate administration activities

Source references

• https://developer.broadcom.com/xapis/esxcli-command-reference/7.0.0/namespace/esxcli_system.html