Kubernetes User Exec into Pod

Last updated a month ago on 2026-02-02

Created 4 years ago on 2022-05-17

About

This rule detects a user attempt to establish a shell session into a pod using the 'exec' command. Using the 'exec' command in a pod allows a user to establish a temporary shell session and execute any process/commands in the pod. An adversary may call bash to gain a persistent interactive shell which will allow access to any data the pod has permissions to, including secrets.

Tags

Data Source: KubernetesDomain: KubernetesUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionLanguage: eql

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Execution (TA0002)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Container Administration Command (T1609)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

An administrator may need to exec into a pod for a legitimate reason like debugging purposes. Containers built from Linux and Windows OS images, tend to include debugging utilities. In this case, an admin may choose to run commands inside a specific container with kubectl exec ${POD_NAME} -c ${CONTAINER_NAME} -- ${CMD} ${ARG1} ${ARG2} ... ${ARGN}. For example, the following command can be used to look at logs from a running Cassandra pod: kubectl exec cassandra --cat /var/log/cassandra/system.log . Additionally, the -i and -t arguments might be used to run a shell connected to the terminal: kubectl exec -i -t cassandra -- sh

License

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

Definition

Rule Type: Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack: Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns: logs-kubernetes.audit_logs-*
Related Integrations: kubernetes(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗any where event.dataset == "kubernetes.audit_logs" and kubernetes.audit.verb in ("get", "create") and
kubernetes.audit.objectRef.subresource == "exec" and kubernetes.audit.stage in ("ResponseComplete", "ResponseStarted") and
kubernetes.audit.level == "Request" and `kubernetes.audit.annotations.authorization_k8s_io/decision` == "allow" and
not (
  (kubernetes.audit.objectRef.namespace == "trident" and kubernetes.audit.objectRef.name like "trident-controller-*") or
  (kubernetes.audit.objectRef.namespace == "vuls" and kubernetes.audit.requestURI like "/api/v1/namespaces/vuls/pods/vuls-*/exec?command=sh&command=-c&command=*+%2Fvuls%2Fresults*") or
  (kubernetes.audit.objectRef.namespace == "git-runners" and kubernetes.audit.requestURI like (
     "/api/v1/namespaces/git-runners/pods/runner-*/exec?command=sh&command=-c&command=if+%5B+-x+%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fbin%2Fbash+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fbin%2Fbash+%0Aelif+%5B+-x+%2Fusr%2Fbin%2Fbash+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fusr%2Fbin%2Fbash+%0Aelif+%5B+-x+%2Fbin%2Fbash+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fbin%2Fbash+%0Aelif+%5B+-x+%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fbin%2Fsh+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fbin%2Fsh+%0Aelif+%5B+-x+%2Fusr%2Fbin%2Fsh+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fusr%2Fbin%2Fsh+%0Aelif+%5B+-x+%2Fbin%2Fsh+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fbin%2Fsh+%0Aelif+%5B+-x+%2Fbusybox%2Fsh+%5D%3B+then%0A%09exec+%2Fbusybox%2Fsh+%0Aelse%0A%09echo+shell+not+found%0A%09exit+1%0Afi%0A%0A&container=*&container=*&stderr=true&stdin=true&stdout=true",
     "/api/v1/namespaces/git-runners/pods/runner-*/exec?command=gitlab-runner-helper&command=read-logs&command=--path&command=%2Flogs-*%2Foutput.log&command=--offset&command=0&command=--wait-file-timeout&command=1m0s&container=*&container=*&stderr=true&stdout=true"
  )) or
  (kubernetes.audit.objectRef.namespace == "elasticsearch-cluster" and kubernetes.audit.requestURI like (
    "/api/v1/namespaces/elasticsearch-cluster/pods/*/exec?command=df&command=-h&container=elasticsearch&stdin=true&stdout=true&tty=true",
    "/api/v1/namespaces/elasticsearch-cluster/pods/*/exec?command=df&command=-h&container=elasticsearch&stderr=true&stdout=true",
    "/api/v1/namespaces/elasticsearch-cluster/pods/*/exec?command=df&command=-h&container=kibana&stderr=true&stdout=true"
  )) or
  (kubernetes.audit.objectRef.namespace == "kube-system" and kubernetes.audit.requestURI like (
    "/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/pods/*/exec?command=%2Fproxy-agent&command=--help&container=konnectivity-agent&stderr=true&stdout=true",
    "api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/pods/*/exec?command=cilium&command=endpoint&command=list&command=-o&command=json&container=cilium-agent&stderr=true&stdout=true",
    "/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/pods/*/exec?command=cilium&command=status&command=-o&command=json&container=cilium-agent&stderr=true&stdout=true",
    "/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/pods/*/exec?command=sh&command=-c&command=clear%3B+%28bash+%7C%7C+ash+%7C%7C+sh%29&container=*&stdin=true&stdout=true&tty=true"
  ))
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Kubernetes User Exec into Pod 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).