Kubernetes Anonymous User Create/Update/Patch Pods Request

Last updated 9 days ago on 2026-02-02

Created 9 days ago on 2026-02-02

About

This rule detects attempts to create, update, or patch pods by an anonymous user. An anonymous user is a user that is not authenticated or authorized to access the Kubernetes API server. Creating, updating, or patching pods is a common activity for attackers to gain access to the cluster and execute commands.

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)

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.user.username in ("system:anonymous", "system:unauthenticated") or
    kubernetes.audit.user.username == null or
    kubernetes.audit.user.username == ""
  ) and kubernetes.audit.level in ("RequestResponse", "ResponseComplete", "Request") and kubernetes.audit.verb in ("create", "update", "patch") and
kubernetes.audit.objectRef.resource == "pods"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Kubernetes Anonymous User Create/Update/Patch Pods Request 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).