MITRE ATT&CKtechnique
T1673 Virtual Machine Discovery
- 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)
- TA0007 Discovery tactic
References
- https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/24/g/new-play-ransomware-linux-variant-targets-esxi-shows-ties-with-p.html TrendMicro Play
- https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/hypervisor-jackpotting-ecrime-actors-increase-targeting-of-esxi-servers/ Crowdstrike Hypervisor Jackpotting Pt 2 2021