Potential Kubeletctl Execution Detected via Defend for Containers

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-02-09

Created 9 days ago on 2026-02-02

About

This rule detects the execution of kubeletctl inside a container. Kubeletctl is a command-line tool that can be used to interact with the Kubelet API directly. It allows easy access to this API, making the often undocumented Kubelet API more accessible. It is often used to enumerate the Kubelet API or other resources inside the container, and may indicate an attempt to move laterally within the pod.

Tags

Data Source: Elastic Defend for ContainersDomain: ContainerOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: DiscoveryLanguage: eql

Severity

low

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Discovery (TA0007)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Container and Resource Discovery (T1613)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

There is a potential for false positives when the command line arguments looked for in this rule are used for legitimate purposes, such as debugging or troubleshooting. It is important to investigate any alerts generated by this rule to determine if they are indicative of malicious activity or part of legitimate container activity.

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-cloud_defend.process*
Related Integrations: cloud_defend(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and (
  (process.name == "kubeletctl" or process.args like "*kubeletctl*") or
  (process.args in ("-s", "--server") and process.args in ("run", "portForward", "scan", "attach", "exec", "pods", "runningpods", "cri", "pid2pod"))
) and
process.interactive == true and container.id like "?*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Kubeletctl Execution Detected via Defend for Containers 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).