Elastic Security Detection Rules

ESXi Root Password Changed

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-09-30
Created 2 days ago on 2026-09-30

About

Detects a change to the ESXi root password, the credential for SSH, the Host Client, and the API. Replacing it locks out the previous password and gives the new value full control of the host. Hostd records `Password was changed for account root`. The shell records `esxcli system account set -i root`.
Tags
Domain: EndpointData Source: VMware vSphereUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceRule Type: Custom Query (KQL)Platform: VMware ESXiLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Account Manipulation (T1098)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Administrators rotate the root password during scheduled maintenance. Confirm the change ticket and that the new password was stored with the approved break-glass process.
License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Query (Kibana Query Language)
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-vsphere.log-*
Related Integrations

vsphere(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
data_stream.dataset:vsphere.log and event.module:vsphere and message:("Password was changed for account root" or "-i root" and "esxcli system account set")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect ESXi Root Password Changed 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(external, opens in a new tab or window).