Elastic Security Detection Rules

ESXi Payload Executed Against Datastore

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

About

Detects a program launched from the ESXi shell against `/vmfs/volumes`. The datastore holds the virtual disks of every guest. A process pointed at that path can read or encrypt those disks and take the hosted virtual machines offline.
Tags
Domain: EndpointData Source: VMware vSphereUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: ImpactRule Type: Custom Query (KQL)Platform: VMware ESXiThreat: RansomwareLanguage: kuery
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

Execution (TA0002)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Impact (TA0040)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
A support script stored under `/tmp` or a Python inventory check can be pointed at a datastore during maintenance. Confirm the file name, the account, and whether virtual machines were shut down in the same session.
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:("/vmfs/volumes" and ("/tmp/" or python))

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect ESXi Payload Executed Against Datastore 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).