ESXi VM Discovery
Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-07-17
About
This detection identifies the use of ESXCLI commands to discover virtual machines on an ESXi host While used by administrators, this activity may also indicate adversary reconnaissance aimed at identifying high value targets, mapping the virtual environment, or preparing for data theft or destructive operations.
- Platform
Splunk
- Tags
- Data Source: SplunkDomain: ApplicationRule Type: QueryOS: Any
- Severity
- medium
- Risk Score
- 47
- False Positives
- Administrators may use this command when troubleshooting. Tune as needed.
- Source
- View on GitHub(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Definition
- Rule Language
- SPL
- Rule Type
- query
text code block:`esxi_syslog` Message="*esxcli vm process*" Message="*list*" | rex field=_raw "\]: \[(?<user>\w+)\]:(?<command>.+)" | rex field=_raw "Z (?<dest>[\w\.]+)\s" | stats min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by dest user command | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `esxi_vm_discovery_filter`
View this rule on Splunk
This rule was sourced from the official Splunk public repository. View the original rule on GitHub(external, opens in a new tab or window).