Kubernetes API Server Proxying Request to Kubelet

Last updated 10 days ago on 2026-05-05
Created 10 days ago on 2026-05-05

About

Detects non-system identities using the Kubernetes nodes/proxy API to proxy requests through the API server directly to a node's Kubelet. The nodes/proxy subresource allows any principal with this RBAC permission to reach the Kubelet API on any worker node without needing direct network access or Kubelet TLS certificates. Through this proxy path, an attacker can list all pod specifications including environment variable secrets, read Kubelet configuration and PKI material, retrieve container logs, and access running pod metadata across all workloads on the target node. Monitoring and health check endpoints such as /metrics, /healthz, and /stats are excluded to reduce noise from legitimate observability tooling.
Tags
Data Source: KubernetesDomain: KubernetesUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationTactic: Lateral MovementTactic: DiscoveryLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

Lateral Movement (TA0008)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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

False Positive Examples
Legitimate kubelet debugging, node troubleshooting, or security tooling that uses the node proxy outside the excluded metrics prefix may match. Baseline approved operators and automation identities.
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-kubernetes.audit_logs-*
Related Integrations

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

Query
text code block:
kubernetes.audit.objectRef.subresource:"proxy" and kubernetes.audit.objectRef.resource:"nodes" and not kubernetes.audit.requestURI:(*metrics* or *healthz* or *stats/summary* or *elastic-agent* or *configz*) and not user.name:( system\:kube-controller-manager or system\:kube-scheduler or system\:serviceaccount\:kube-system\:* or system\:node\:* or eks\:* or aksService )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Kubernetes API Server Proxying Request to Kubelet 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).