Tool Installation Detected via Defend for Containers

Last updated 7 days ago on 2026-01-27

Created 13 days ago on 2026-01-21

About

This rule detects the installation of tools inside a container. An adversary may need to install additional software to enumerate the container, its environment, and move laterally within the environment.

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)

↳ Software Deployment Tools (T1072)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

There is a potential for false positives if the tools are installed 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 in ("apt", "apt-get", "dnf", "microdnf", "yum", "zypper", "tdnf") and process.args == "install") or
  (process.name == "apk" and process.args == "add") or
  (process.name == "pacman" and process.args like "-*S*") or
  (process.name in ("rpm", "dpkg") and process.args in ("-i", "--install"))
) and process.args like (
  "curl", "wget", "socat", "busybox", "openssl", "torsocks",
  "netcat", "netcat-openbsd", "netcat-traditional", "ncat", "tor",
  "python*", "perl", "node", "nodejs", "ruby", "lua"
) and process.interactive == true and container.id like "*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Tool Installation 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).