Several Failed Protected Branch Force Pushes by User

Last updated a month ago on 2025-12-16
Created a month ago on 2025-12-16

About

Detects a high number of failed force push attempts to protected branches by a single user within a short time frame. Adversaries may attempt multiple force pushes to overwrite commit history on protected branches, potentially leading to data loss or disruption of development workflows.
Tags
Domain: CloudUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ImpactTactic: ExfiltrationData Source: GithubLanguage: esql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Impact (TA0040)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Exfiltration (TA0010)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Related Integrations

github(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
from logs-github.audit-* metadata _id, _index, _version | where data_stream.dataset == "github.audit" and github.category == "protected_branch" and event.action == "protected_branch.rejected_ref_update" | stats Esql.document_count = COUNT(*), Esql.github_org_values = values(github.org), Esql.github_repo_values = values(github.repo), Esql.github_branch_values = values(github.branch), Esql.github_reasons_code_values = values(github.reasons.code), Esql.github_reasons_message_value = values(github.reasons.message), Esql.user_name_values = values(user.name), Esql.agent_id_values = values(agent.id), Esql.event_dataset_values = values(event.dataset), Esql.data_stream_namespace_values = values(data_stream.namespace) by user.name | keep Esql.* | where Esql.document_count >= 5

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Several Failed Protected Branch Force Pushes by User 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).