Elastic Security Detection Rules

ESXI Timestomping using Touch Command

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 2 years ago on 2023-04-11

About

Identifies instances where the 'touch' command is executed on a Linux system with the "-r" flag, which is used to modify the timestamp of a file based on another file's timestamp. The rule targets specific VM-related paths, such as "/etc/vmware/", "/usr/lib/vmware/", or "/vmfs/*". These paths are associated with VMware virtualization software, and their presence in the touch command arguments may indicate that a threat actor is attempting to tamper with timestamps of VM-related files and configurations on the system.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Auditd ManagerData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Indicator Removal (T1070)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
auditbeat-*endgame-*logs-auditd_manager.auditd-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

auditd_manager(opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and
 event.action in ("exec", "exec_event", "start", "ProcessRollup2", "executed", "process_started") and
 process.name == "touch" and process.args == "-r" and process.args : ("/etc/vmware/*", "/usr/lib/vmware/*", "/vmfs/*")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect ESXI Timestomping using Touch Command in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).