Elastic Security Detection Rules

ESXI Discovery via Find

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

About

Identifies instances where the 'find' command is started on a Linux system with arguments targeting 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 find command arguments may indicate that a threat actor is attempting to search for, analyze, or manipulate VM-related files and configurations on the system.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: DiscoveryData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Auditd ManagerData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Discovery (TA0007)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Software Discovery (T1518)(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-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)

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", "executed", "process_started") and
  process.name == "find" and process.args : ("/etc/vmware/*", "/usr/lib/vmware/*", "/vmfs/*") and
  not process.parent.executable == "/usr/lib/vmware/viewagent/bin/uninstall_viewagent.sh"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect ESXI Discovery via Find 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).