GitHub Repo

Detection: Windows Potential Web Shell Creation For VMware Workspace ONE

Updated Date: 2026-04-13 ID: 7d15f645-58cc-4cb7-a9bf-2dcf15bc4b28 Author: Raven Tait, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

This analytic looks for evidence of web shells being created in the VMware Workspace ONE path on Windows or Linux systems, which has been actively exploited by attackers via CVE-2022-22954.

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
 3  count min(_time) as firstTime
 4        max(_time) as lastTime
 5
 6from datamodel=Endpoint.Filesystem where
 7
 8Filesystem.file_path IN (
 9    "*/vmware/horizon/workspace/webapps/*",
10    "*\\vmware\\horizon\\workspace\\webapps\\*"
11)
12Filesystem.file_path="*.jsp"
13
14by Filesystem.dest Filesystem.file_create_time Filesystem.process_path
15   Filesystem.process_guid Filesystem.process_id Filesystem.file_path Filesystem.file_name
16   Filesystem.user Filesystem.vendor_product Filesystem.action
17
18
19| `drop_dm_object_name(Filesystem)`
20
21| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
22
23| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
24
25| `windows_potential_web_shell_creation_for_vmware_workspace_one_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Sysmon EventID 11 Windows icon Windows 'XmlWinEventLog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'

Macros Used

Name Value
security_content_ctime convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)
windows_potential_web_shell_creation_for_vmware_workspace_one_filter search *
windows_potential_web_shell_creation_for_vmware_workspace_one_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1505.003 Web Shell Persistence
Installation
DE.AE
CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting Value
Disabled true
Cron Schedule 0 * * * *
Earliest Time -70m@m
Latest Time -10m@m
Schedule Window auto
Creates Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the Processes node of the Endpoint data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.

Known False Positives

Some legitimate software updates or administrative scripts may create files in the VMware Workspace ONE path, triggering alerts. Review and allow trusted processes to reduce false positives.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Potential VMware Workspace ONE web shell file created at $file_path$ on $dest$.

Risk Object Risk Object Type Risk Score Threat Objects
dest system 50 file_path

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation ✅ Passing N/A N/A N/A
Unit ✅ Passing Dataset XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational XmlWinEventLog
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational XmlWinEventLog

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 1