Elastic Security Detection Rules

Kubernetes Direct API Request via Curl or Wget

Last updated a month ago on 2025-07-07
Created a month ago on 2025-06-23

About

This rule monitors for the execution of curl or wget commands that directly access Kubernetes API endpoints, which may indicate an attempt to interact with Kubernetes resources in a potentially unauthorized manner. This technique is often used by adversaries to gather information about the Kubernetes environment, such as secrets, config maps, and other sensitive data, without using the official Kubernetes client tools such as "kubectl".
Tags
Domain: EndpointDomain: ContainerDomain: KubernetesOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: DiscoveryData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

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

Discovery (TA0007)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Container and Resource Discovery (T1613)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and
event.action in ("exec", "exec_event", "start", "executed", "process_started") and
process.name in ("curl", "wget") and process.args like~ (
  "*http*//*/apis/authorization.k8s.io/*",
  "*http*//*/apis/rbac.authorization.k8s.io/*",
  "*http*//*/api/v1/secrets*",
  "*http*//*/api/v1/namespaces/*/secrets*",
  "*http*//*/api/v1/configmaps*",
  "*http*//*/api/v1/pods*",
  "*http*//*/apis/apps/v1/deployments*"
)

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Kubernetes Direct API Request via Curl or Wget 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(opens in a new tab or window).