GKE Pod Exec with Curl or Wget to HTTPS

Last updated 7 days ago on 2026-07-15

Created 7 days ago on 2026-07-15

About

Detects successful GKE pod exec sessions where the executed command implies curl or wget fetching an HTTPS URL. Attackers with pods/exec often run one-liners to stage tooling, pull scripts or binaries, or exfiltrate data over HTTPS—activity that should be rare compared to shells, debuggers, or expected health checks. Common cluster health, localhost, and OIDC/JWKS endpoint patterns are excluded to reduce benign automation noise. GKE records the command in gcp.audit.labels.command.gke.io/command when an explicit command is passed to exec.

Tags

Domain: CloudDomain: KubernetesData Source: GCPData Source: GCP Audit LogsData Source: Google Cloud PlatformUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: Command and ControlLanguage: kuery

Severity

high

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Container Administration Command (T1609)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Command and Control (TA0011)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Ingress Tool Transfer (T1105)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

Approved runbooks or support sessions may use kubectl exec with curl/wget to test egress or download vendor tools.

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

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗data_stream.dataset:gcp.audit and service.name:"k8s.io" and event.outcome:success and
event.type:start and
event.action:("io.k8s.core.v1.pods.exec.create" or "io.k8s.core.v1.pods.exec.get") and
gcp.audit.labels.command.gke.io/command:(
  (*curl*https* or *wget*https*) and not (
    */.well-known/jwks.json* or */.well-known/openid-configuration* or
    */api/v1/health* or */healthz* or */livez* or */readyz* or
    */openid-connect/certs* or */openid/v1/jwks* or
    *127.0.0.1* or *kubernetes.default.svc* or *localhost*
  )
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect GKE Pod Exec with Curl or Wget to HTTPS 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).