MITRE ATT&CKtechnique

T1673 Virtual Machine Discovery

Published 2025-03-27 Modified 2026-05-12 Official page ↗
Domain
enterprise
Tactics
Discovery
Platforms
ESXi, Linux, macOS, Windows
Version
1.0
Created
2025-03-27

Description

An adversary may attempt to enumerate running virtual machines (VMs) after gaining access to a host or hypervisor. For example, adversaries may enumerate a list of VMs on an ESXi hypervisor using a Hypervisor CLI such as `esxcli` or `vim-cmd` (e.g. `esxcli vm process list or vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms`). Adversaries may also directly leverage a graphical user interface, such as VMware vCenter, in order to view virtual machines on a host. Adversaries may use the information from Virtual Machine Discovery during discovery to shape follow-on behaviors. Subsequently discovered VMs may be leveraged for follow-on activities such as Service Stop or Data Encrypted for Impact.

Related

Tactic · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · uses (6)

  • S9060 MiniBus software (malware)
  • S9019 PureCrypter software (malware)
  • S1242 Qilin software (malware)
  • S1217 VIRTUALPITA software (malware)
  • G1048 UNC3886 group
  • S1096 Cheerscrypt software (malware)

References