Azure AKS Attempted User Exec into Pod

Last updated 13 days ago on 2026-07-09

Created 13 days ago on 2026-07-09

About

Detects an AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) identity establishing an exec session into a pod. Interactive command execution inside a workload via kubectl exec is a common post-compromise technique used to access secrets, run tooling, and expand access from a foothold container. Node, control-plane, and kube-system service account identities are excluded, so workload service accounts and users, the identities an adversary is most likely to abuse, remain in scope.

Tags

Domain: CloudDomain: KubernetesData Source: AzureData Source: Azure Platform LogsData Source: KubernetesUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionLanguage: kuery

Severity

medium

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)

False Positive Examples

Administrators routinely exec into pods for troubleshooting. Baseline expected users and target pods, then exclude known break-glass or operator identities after review.

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

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗data_stream.dataset:azure.platformlogs and
  event.action:"Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/diagnosticLogs/Read" and
  azure.platformlogs.category:"kube-audit" and
  azure.platformlogs.properties.log.objectRef.resource:"pods" and azure.platformlogs.properties.log.objectRef.subresource:"exec" and
  azure.platformlogs.properties.log.verb:("create" or "get") and
  not azure.platformlogs.properties.log.user.username:(
    system\:node\:* or "aksService" or "hcpService" or "readinessChecker" or
    system\:serviceaccount\:kube-system\:*
  )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Azure AKS Attempted User Exec into Pod 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).