
Detecting Virtual Environment Files
Some files are created by Virtualbox and VMware on the system.
Malware can check the different folders to find Virtualbox artifacts like VBoxMouse.sys.
Malware can check the different folders to find VMware artifacts like vmmouse.sys, vmhgfs.sys.
Some Files Example
Below is a list of files that can be detected on virtual machines:
- “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\agent.pyw”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\vmmouse.sys”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\vmhgfs.sys”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\VBoxMouse.sys”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\VBoxGuest.sys”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\VBoxSF.sys”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\VBoxVideo.sys”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxdisp.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxhook.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxmrxnp.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxogl.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxoglarrayspu.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxoglcrutil.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxoglerrorspu.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxoglfeedbackspu.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxoglpassthroughspu.dll”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxservice.exe”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\vboxtray.exe”,
- “C:\WINDOWS\system32\VBoxControl.exe”
Code Snippets
#include <iostream>
#include <windows.h>
using namespace std;
BOOL FileExists(TCHAR* szPath)
{
DWORD dwAttrib = GetFileAttributes(szPath);
return (dwAttrib != INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES) && !(dwAttrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY);
}
// Check if file related to sandbox exist
int CheckFile()
{
bool hAppend;
LPSTR fname[] = {"C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\StartUp\\agent.pyw",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\drivers\\vmmouse.sys",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\drivers\\vmhgfs.sys",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\drivers\\VBoxMouse.sys",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\drivers\\VBoxGuest.sys",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\drivers\\VBoxSF.sys",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\drivers\\VBoxVideo.sys",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxdisp.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxhook.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxmrxnp.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxogl.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxoglarrayspu.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxoglcrutil.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxoglerrorspu.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxoglfeedbackspu.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxoglpackspu.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxoglpassthroughspu.dll",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxservice.exe",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\vboxtray.exe",
"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\VBoxControl.exe",
// ADD YOUR FILE HERE!
};
for (int i = 0; i < (sizeof(fname) / sizeof(LPSTR)); i++)
{
if (FileExists(fname[i]))
cout << " [+] File exist: " << (fname[i]) << endl;
else
cout << " [-] File doesn't exist: " << (fname[i]) << endl;
}
return 0;
}
int main()
{
CheckFile();
return 0;
}
Detection Rules
rule:
meta:
name: reference anti-VM strings targeting VMWare
namespace: anti-analysis/anti-vm/vm-detection
author: michael.hunhoff@fireeye.com
scope: file
att&ck:
- Defense Evasion::Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion::System Checks [T1497.001]
mbc:
- Anti-Behavioral Analysis::Virtual Machine Detection [B0009]
references:
- https://github.com/LordNoteworthy/al-khaser/blob/master/al-khaser/AntiVM/VMWare.cpp
examples:
- al-khaser_x86.exe_
features:
- or:
- string: /VMWare/i
- string: /VMTools/i
- string: /SOFTWARE\\VMware, Inc\.\\VMware Tools/i
- string: /vmnet.sys/i
- string: /vmmouse.sys/i
- string: /vmusb.sys/i
- string: /vm3dmp.sys/i
- string: /vmci.sys/i
- string: /vmhgfs.sys/i
- string: /vmmemctl.sys/i
- string: /vmx86.sys/i
- string: /vmrawdsk.sys/i
- string: /vmusbmouse.sys/i
- string: /vmkdb.sys/i
- string: /vmnetuserif.sys/i
- string: /vmnetadapter.sys/i
- string: /\\\\.\\HGFS/i
- string: /\\\\.\\vmci/i
- string: /vmtoolsd.exe/i
- string: /vmwaretray.exe/i
- string: /vmwareuser.exe/i
- string: /VGAuthService.exe/i
- string: /vmacthlp.exe/i
- string: /vmci/i
description: VMWare VMCI Bus Driver
- string: /vmhgfs/i
description: VMWare Host Guest Control Redirector
- string: /vmmouse/i
- string: /vmmemctl/i
description: VMWare Guest Memory Controller Driver
- string: /vmusb/i
- string: /vmusbmouse/i
- string: /vmx_svga/i
- string: /vmxnet/i
- string: /vmx86/i
- string: /VMwareVMware/i
- string: /vmGuestLib.dll/i