CVE-2026-22719 Microsoft Sentinel · KQL

Detect CVE-2026-22719: VMware Aria Operations Command Injection in Microsoft Sentinel

Detects exploitation of CVE-2026-22719, a command injection vulnerability (CWE-77) in Broadcom VMware Aria Operations. This KEV-listed vulnerability allows attackers to inject and execute arbitrary OS commands through unsanitized input, potentially leading to full host compromise, lateral movement, and persistence within virtualized environments.

MITRE ATT&CK

Tactic
Initial Access Execution Persistence Lateral Movement

KQL Detection Query

Microsoft Sentinel (KQL)
kusto
let AriaOpsProcesses = dynamic(['vmware-vcops', 'vcops', 'aria-ops', 'vrops']);
let SuspiciousChildProcs = dynamic(['sh', 'bash', 'python', 'python3', 'perl', 'curl', 'wget', 'nc', 'ncat', 'netcat', 'id', 'whoami', 'uname']);
let TimeWindow = 1h;
union DeviceProcessEvents, SecurityEvent
| where TimeGenerated > ago(TimeWindow)
| where (ParentProcessName has_any (AriaOpsProcesses) or ProcessCommandLine has_any ('aria', 'vrops', 'vcops'))
    and FileName has_any (SuspiciousChildProcs)
| extend CommandLength = strlen(ProcessCommandLine)
| where CommandLength > 20
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, AccountName, ParentProcessName, FileName, ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine, RemoteIP, ActionType
| order by TimeGenerated desc
critical severity medium confidence

Detects suspicious child process execution spawned by VMware Aria Operations processes, indicative of command injection exploitation of CVE-2026-22719.

Data Sources

Microsoft Defender for EndpointMicrosoft Sentinel DeviceProcessEventsWindows Security Event Log

Required Tables

DeviceProcessEventsSecurityEvent

False Positives & Tuning

  • Legitimate administrative shell scripts executed by Aria Operations for maintenance tasks
  • Authorized automation pipelines that invoke shell commands as part of configured monitoring workflows
  • Scheduled health-check tasks launched by the Aria Operations service account under normal operations

Other platforms for CVE-2026-22719


Testing Methodology

Validate this detection against 4 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.

  1. Test 1Simulated Aria Operations Command Injection via curl

    Expected signal: Linux audit log EXECVE record for 'id' with ppid matching an Aria Operations web service process; file creation event in /tmp/ by the service account.

  2. Test 2Post-Exploitation Reverse Shell Staging from Aria Operations Context

    Expected signal: Audit log EXECVE for bash and curl with parent 'sudo'; network connection from host to attacker-lab.internal on port 80; file creation event for /tmp/.aria_agent.

  3. Test 3Recon Execution Simulating Aria Operations Command Injection Output

    Expected signal: Linux audit EXECVE records for id, whoami, uname, cat, ss all with uid matching the vmware service account; all spawned as children of bash.

  4. Test 4Persistence via Cron Injection Simulating Post-Exploitation

    Expected signal: Audit log records for bash and crontab execution under vmware service account; file write to vmware user crontab spool (/var/spool/cron/crontabs/vmware).

Unlock Pro Content

Get the full detection package for CVE-2026-22719 including response playbook, investigation guide, and atomic red team tests.

Response PlaybookInvestigation GuideHunting QueriesAtomic Red Team TestsTuning Guidance

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