Elastic Security Detection Rules

AWS EKS Container Created with Excessive Linux Capabilities

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-10-21
Created 3 months ago on 2026-08-03

About

This rule detects a container deployed with one or more dangerously permissive Linux capabilities. An attacker with the ability to deploy a container with added capabilities could use this for further execution, lateral movement, or privilege escalation within a cluster. The capabilities detected in this rule have been used in container escapes to the host machine.
Tags
Domain: CloudDomain: ContainersPlatform: AWSPlatform: KubernetesData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: Kubernetes API Server Audit LogsService: AWS EKSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: Privilege EscalationTactic: Defense EvasionRule Type: Custom Query (KQL)Threat: Container EscapeProfile: BetaLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Escape to Host (T1611)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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

↳ Deploy Container (T1610)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Deploy Container (T1610)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Some container images require the addition of privileged capabilities. This rule leaves space for the exception of trusted container images. To add an exception, add the trusted container image name to the query field, aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image.
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-aws.eks_audit-*
Related Integrations

aws(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
data_stream.dataset: aws.eks_audit and aws.eks.audit.annotations.authorization_k8s_io/decision:"allow" and
aws.eks.audit.verb: create and aws.eks.audit.objectRef.resource: pods and
aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.securityContext.capabilities.add: ("BPF" or "DAC_READ_SEARCH"  or "NET_ADMIN" or "SYS_ADMIN" or "SYS_BOOT" or "SYS_MODULE" or "SYS_PTRACE" or "SYS_RAWIO"  or "SYSLOG") and
not (
  aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image : (docker.elastic.co/beats/elastic-agent* or "") or
  aws.eks.audit.objectRef.namespace:"kube-system" or
  (aws.eks.audit.objectRef.namespace:datadog and aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image:*datadog-agent*) or
  (aws.eks.audit.objectRef.namespace:kubearmor and aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image:(*kubearmor\:kubearmor* or kubearmor/kubearmor-snitch*)) or
  (aws.eks.audit.objectRef.namespace:defender and aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image:*fp-prisma\:defender-defender*) or
  (aws.eks.audit.objectRef.namespace:metallb-system and aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image:(quay.io/frrouting* or quay.io/metallb/speaker*)) or
  (aws.eks.audit.objectRef.namespace:longhorn-system and aws.eks.audit.requestObject.spec.containers.image:rancher/mirrored-longhornio*)
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS EKS Container Created with Excessive Linux Capabilities 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).