Virtual machine host (hypervisor): what it is and how it is attacked
One physical server pretending to be many.
Also known as
- hypervisor
- ESXi
- Hyper-V
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
Reaching the host puts every machine running on it within reach at once, which is a different problem from compromising any one of them.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Management interfaces on the ordinary office network
- Unpatched flaws in the host software itself
What reduces it
- Keep management interfaces off the ordinary office network
- Patch the host on the same urgency as an internet-facing server
- Watch for encryption applied at the host, which hits every guest at once and never runs an in-guest agent
Where it sits
- Group
- Servers · Machines that run something for other machines.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- vm-host
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in servers
- Serverhost · machineA computer that runs something for other computers.
- Web serverHTTP server · websiteThe computer that sends your website to anybody who visits it.
- Application serverbackend · business logic tierRuns the working parts of an application, behind the website.
- DatabaseDB · SQL server · data storeStores the organised information an application depends on.
- Mail serveremail server · Exchange · SMTPSends, receives and stores the organisation's email.
- Name serverDNS · domain name serverTranslates names like example.com into network addresses.
- File serverSMB server · network shareHolds shared documents everyone can reach over the network.
- Jump hostbastion · jump box · hardened admin hostThe single controlled machine administrators go through to reach sensitive systems.
- Backup serverbackup · Veeam · backup controllerMakes and manages the spare copies of your data that let you recover after something goes wrong.
- Update serverWSUS · patch server · software distributionDistributes software updates to every machine.
- Build pipelineCI/CD · Jenkins · GitHub ActionsThe automated production line that turns written code into the software the business actually runs.
- Phone systemVoIP · PBX · telephony serverRuns the organisation's telephone calls over the network.
The servers group lists all 13 of them side by side.
Virtual machine host on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type hypervisor. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker