Elastic Security Detection Rules

Kubernetes Cluster-Admin Role Binding Created

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-02-09
Created 7 days ago on 2026-02-04

About

This rule detects the creation of a RoleBinding or ClusterRoleBinding that grants the cluster-admin ClusterRole, which provides unrestricted access to all Kubernetes resources and represents a high-risk privilege escalation or misconfiguration.
Tags
Data Source: KubernetesDomain: KubernetesUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Privilege EscalationLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Account Manipulation (T1098)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Account Manipulation (T1098)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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-kubernetes.audit_logs-*
Related Integrations

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

Query
text code block:
event.dataset: "kubernetes.audit_logs" and kubernetes.audit.objectRef.resource:("clusterrolebindings" or "rolebindings") and
kubernetes.audit.verb:"create" and kubernetes.audit.requestObject.roleRef.name:"cluster-admin" and
kubernetes.audit.annotations.authorization_k8s_io/decision:"allow" and
kubernetes.audit.level:"RequestResponse" and kubernetes.audit.stage:"ResponseComplete"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Kubernetes Cluster-Admin Role Binding Created 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).