VMWare Aria Operations Exploit Attempt

name: VMWare Aria Operations Exploit Attempt
id: d5d865e4-03e6-43da-98f4-28a4f42d4df7
version: 8
date: '2026-03-23'
author: Michael Haag, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
data_source:
    - Palo Alto Network Threat
description: |
    The following analytic detects potential exploitation attempts against VMWare vRealize Network Insight, specifically targeting the CVE-2023-20887 vulnerability.
    It monitors web traffic for HTTP POST requests directed at the vulnerable endpoint "/saas./resttosaasservlet." This detection leverages web traffic data, focusing on specific URL patterns and HTTP methods.
    Identifying this behavior is crucial for a SOC as it indicates an active exploit attempt.
    If confirmed malicious, the attacker could execute arbitrary code, leading to unauthorized access, data theft, or further network compromise.
search: |-
    | tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
      count min(_time) as firstTime
            max(_time) as lastTime

    FROM datamodel=Web WHERE

    Web.url="*/saas./resttosaasservlet*"
    Web.http_method=POST
    Web.status IN (
        "unknown",
        "200"
    )
    BY Web.http_user_agent Web.status
       Web.http_method Web.url Web.url_length
       Web.src Web.dest
    | `drop_dm_object_name("Web")`
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `vmware_aria_operations_exploit_attempt_filter`
how_to_implement: |
    To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting web or proxy logs, or ensure it is being filled by a proxy like device, into the Web Datamodel. Restrict to specific dest assets to reduce false positives.
known_false_positives: |
    False positives will be present based on gateways in use, modify the status field as needed.
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20887
    - https://viz.greynoise.io/tag/vmware-aria-operations-for-networks-rce-attempt?days=30
    - https://github.com/sinsinology/CVE-2023-20887
    - https://summoning.team/blog/vmware-vrealize-network-insight-rce-cve-2023-20887/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") starthoursago=168  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: An exploitation attempt has occurred against $dest$ from $src$ related to CVE-2023-20887
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: src
          type: ip_address
tags:
    cve:
        - CVE-2023-20887
    analytic_story:
        - VMware Aria Operations vRealize CVE-2023-20887
    asset_type: Web Server
    atomic_guid: []
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1133
        - T1190
        - T1210
        - T1068
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: network
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1190/vmware/vmware_aria.log
          source: not_applicable
          sourcetype: pan:threat