Sigma rule: ESXi Storage Information Discovery Via ESXCLI

Rule

Title

ESXi Storage Information Discovery Via ESXCLI

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Cedric Maurugeon

Date

2023-09-04

File

rules/linux/process_creation/proc_creation_lnx_esxcli_storage_discovery.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of the "esxcli" command with the "storage" flag in order to retrieve information about the storage status and other related information. Seen used by malware such as DarkSide and LockBit.

Log source

product

linux

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    Image|endswith: '/esxcli'
    CommandLine|contains: 'storage'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' get'
        - ' list'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administration activities

Tags

• attack.discovery
• attack.execution
• attack.t1033
• attack.t1007
• attack.t1059.012

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1007
• T1033
• T1059.012

References

• https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/21/e/darkside-linux-vms-targeted.html
• https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/a/analysis-and-Impact-of-lockbit-ransomwares-first-linux-and-vmware-esxi-variant.html
• https://developer.broadcom.com/xapis/esxcli-command-reference/7.0.0/namespace/esxcli_storage.html

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