GKE Secret get or list with Suspicious User Agent

Last updated 8 days ago on 2026-06-30

Created 8 days ago on 2026-06-30

About

Detects successful GKE secret get or list operations where the user agent matches scripting runtimes, minimal HTTP clients, or offensive-distribution fingerprints rather than typical kubectl or controller traffic.

Tags

Domain: CloudDomain: KubernetesData Source: GCPData Source: Google Cloud PlatformUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Credential AccessLanguage: kuery

Severity

high

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Credential Access (TA0006)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Unsecured Credentials (T1552)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

Approved scripts, CI jobs, or penetration tests may use generic HTTP clients. Validate tickets and identity scope before treating as compromise.

License

Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type: Query (Kibana Query Language)
Integration Pack: Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns: logs-gcp.audit-*
Related Integrations: gcp(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗data_stream.dataset:gcp.audit and service.name:"k8s.io" and event.outcome:success and
event.action:("io.k8s.core.v1.secrets.list" or "io.k8s.core.v1.secrets.get") and user_agent.original:(
  curl* or python* or Python* or wget* or Go-http* or perl* or java* or node* or php* or *distrib#kali* or *kali-amd64* or
  *kali-arm64* or Bun* or axios* or undici*
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect GKE Secret get or list with Suspicious User Agent in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).