Techniques › T1132.001 › AN0348
AN0348 Analytic 0348
ESXi · attack.mitre.org · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2
<p>ESXi shell (BusyBox) or VMware utilities (openssl, python if present) used to Base64/hex encode data from datastore or config files → followed by abnormal egress from the host (NSX/flow logs) with asymmetric bytes_out or HTTPS posts to non-management endpoints.</p>
- Detects
- T1132.001 Standard Encoding
- Part of
- DET0124 Behavior-chain detection for T1132.001 Data Encoding: Standard Encoding (Base64/Hex/MIME) across Windows, Linux, macOS, ESXi
Log sources and channels
Exactly as MITRE states them in x_mitre_log_source_references. Where a channel is vague, it is vague in the source; kevmap does not tidy it.
| Log source | Channel | Data component |
|---|---|---|
| esxi:shell | commands containing base64, openssl enc -base64, xxd -p | DC0032 Process Creation |
| esxi:hostd | unexpected script/command invocations via hostd | DC0038 Application Log Content |
| NSX:FlowLogs | network_flow: bytes_out >> bytes_in to external | DC0078 Network Traffic Flow |
| NSM:Flow | http: Base64/MIME looking payloads from ESXi host IP | DC0085 Network Traffic Content |
Mutable elements
Parameters MITRE marks as environment-specific. These are the knobs you are expected to tune; they are why an analytic is not a rule.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
MgmtCIDRs | CIDRs for legitimate vCenter/NSX/backup endpoints. |
BytesRatio | Out:In ratio deemed suspicious (e.g., ≥3 on ESXi). |
TimeWindow | Correlation window between shell command and egress. |