Potential Cluster Enumeration via jq Detected via Defend for Containers

Last updated 9 days ago on 2026-02-02

Created 9 days ago on 2026-02-02

About

This rule detects the enumeration of the cluster by the "jq" command inside a container. The "jq" command is used to parse JSON data, and may be used by an adversary to gain information about the cluster and the services running inside it. This behavior is uncommon for interactive shells within a container, and is commonly leveraged by attackers to help parse cluster information in a more readable format, or set the output as environment variables.

Tags

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

Severity

low

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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 if the "jq" command is 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 == "jq" and
process.interactive == true and container.id like "?*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Cluster Enumeration via jq 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).