CISA and FBI Release ESXiArgs Ransomware Recovery Guidance

Today, CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory, ESXiArgs Ransomware Virtual Machine Recovery Guidance. This advisory describes the ongoing ransomware campaign known as “ESXiArgs.” Malicious cyber actors may be exploiting known vulnerabilities in unpatched and out-of-service or out-of-date versions of VMware ESXi software to gain access to ESXi servers and deploy ESXiArgs ransomware. The ransomware encrypts configuration files on ESXi servers, potentially rendering virtual machines unusable.

As detailed in the advisory, CISA has created and released an ESXiArgs recovery script at https://github.com/cisagov/ESXiArgs-Recover. CISA and FBI encourage organizations that have fallen victim to ESXiArgs ransomware to consider using the script to attempt to recover their files.

Additionally, CISA and FBI encourage all organizations to review the advisory and incorporate the recommendations for protecting against ESXiArgs ransomware.