Interactive Exec Into Container Detected via Defend for Containers

Last updated 23 days ago on 2026-01-15

Created 3 years ago on 2023-05-12

About

This rule detects interactive 'exec' events launched against a container using the 'exec' command. Using the 'exec' command in a pod allows a user to establish a temporary shell session and execute any process/command inside the container. This rule specifically targets higher-risk interactive commands that allow real-time interaction with a container's shell. A malicious actor could use this level of access to further compromise the container environment or attempt a container breakout.

Tags

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

Severity

low

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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

False Positive Examples

An administrator may need to exec into a pod for a legitimate reason like debugging purposes. Containers built from Linux and Windows OS images, tend to include debugging utilities. In this case, an admin may choose to run commands inside a specific container with kubectl exec ${POD_NAME} -c ${CONTAINER_NAME} -- ${CMD} ${ARG1} ${ARG2} ... ${ARGN}. For example, the following command can be used to look at logs from a running Cassandra pod: kubectl exec cassandra --cat /var/log/cassandra/system.log . Additionally, the -i and -t arguments might be used to run a shell connected to the terminal: kubectl exec -i -t cassandra -- sh

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 in ("bash", "dash", "sh", "tcsh", "csh", "zsh", "ksh", "fish", "busybox") and
process.entry_leader.entry_meta.type == "container" and

/* process is the inital process run in a container */
process.entry_leader.same_as_process == true and

/* interactive process */
process.interactive == true and container.id like "*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Interactive Exec Into Container 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).