Sigma rule: Suspicious Persistence Via VMwareToolBoxCmd.EXE VM State Change Script

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-9e22b0f2c8c0, updated 2023-06-14T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Persistence Via VMwareToolBoxCmd.EXE VM State Change Script
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-06-14
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_vmware_toolbox_cmd_persistence_susp.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of the "VMwareToolBoxCmd.exe" with the "script" and "set" flag to setup a specific script that's located in a potentially suspicious location to run for a specific VM state

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_bin_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\VMwareToolBoxCmd.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'toolbox-cmd.exe'
selection_bin_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ' script '
        - ' set '
selection_susp_paths:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ':\PerfLogs\'
        - ':\Temp\'
        - ':\Windows\System32\Tasks\'
        - ':\Windows\Tasks\'
        - ':\Windows\Temp\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.persistence
  • attack.t1059

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_vmware_toolbox_cmd_persistence_susp.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Persistence Via VMwareToolBoxCmd.EXE VM State Change Script" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_vmware_toolbox_cmd_persistence_susp.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Suspicious Persistence Via VMwareToolBoxCmd.EXE VM State Change Script",
entity page, dataset version ref-9e22b0f2c8c0, updated 2023-06-14T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/236d8e89-ed95-4789-a982-36f4643738ba (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 236d8e89-ed95-4789-a982-36f4643738ba, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.