GitHub Repo

Vmtoolsd Execution

Date: 2025-07-30 ID: 45640c5f-9ef7-4d93-aa3e-2bc188d0be0a Author: Raven Tait, Splunk Environment: custom Directory: vmtoolsd_execution

Description

Sample of Sysmon events showing execution of commands on a host via VMWare Tools.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

ID Technique Tactic
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution

Environment Details

Field Value
Environment custom
Directory vmtoolsd_execution
Test Date 2025-07-30

Datasets

The following datasets were collected during this attack simulation:

Windows-Sysmon

  • Path: /datasets/attack_techniques/T1059/vmtoolsd/windows-sysmon.log
  • Sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
  • Source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational

The following detections in our security content repository use this attack data for testing:

Detection Name Type Source MITRE ATT&CK Analytic Story
Windows Suspicious VMWare Tools Child Process TTP Endpoint T1059 ESXi Post Compromise, China-Nexus Threat Activity

Usage Instructions

Replay with Splunk Attack Data

Replay attack data with replay.py from Splunk Attack Data.

1python replay.py --dataset /datasets/attack_techniques/T1059/vmtoolsd/windows-sysmon.log --index attack_data

Manual Import

  1. Download the dataset files from the paths listed above
  2. Configure your Splunk instance with the appropriate sourcetypes
  3. Import the logs using the Splunk Add Data wizard

Related Content

Find more detections and analytics for this attack technique in our security content repository.

Source: GitHub | Version: 1.0