Sigma rule: Devcon Execution Disabling VMware VMCI Device

Rule

Title

Devcon Execution Disabling VMware VMCI Device

Status

experimental

Level

high

Author

Matt Anderson, Dray Agha, Anna Pham (Huntress)

Date

2026-01-02

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_devcon_disable_vmci_driver.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of devcon.exe with commands that disable the VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) device.
This can be legitimate during VMware Tools troubleshooting or driver conflicts, but may also indicate malware attempting to hijack communication with the hardware via the VMCI device.
This has been used to facilitate VMware ESXi vulnerability exploits to escape VMs and execute code on the ESXi host.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\devcon.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'DevCon.exe'
selection_action:
    CommandLine|contains: ' disable '
selection_vmci_pci:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '15AD&DEV_0740' # VMware VMCI PCI device (Vendor 0x15AD = VMware, Device 0x0740 = VMCI)
        - 'VMWVMCIHOSTDEV' # VMware VMCI root host device driver name
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate VMware administration, Tools installation/uninstallation, or troubleshooting driver conflicts.
• Automated scripts in virtualized environments for device cleanup.

Tags

• attack.persistence
• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.defense-impairment
• attack.t1543.003
• attack.t1685

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1543.003
• T1685

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/devtest/devcon
• https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/VMCI-driver-issues/td-p/2866060
• https://github.com/search?q=devcon+disable+VMWVMCIHOSTDEV
• https://huntress.com/blog/esxi-vm-escape-exploit

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_devcon_disable_vmci_driver.yml