Potential notify_on_release Container Escape Detected via Defend for Containers

Last updated 23 days ago on 2026-01-15
Created 2 years ago on 2023-10-26

About

This rule detects modification of the cgroup notify_on_release file from inside a container. When the notify_on_release flag is enabled (1) in a cgroup, then whenever the last task in the cgroup exits or attaches to another cgroup, the command specified in the release_agent file is run and invoked from the host. A privileged container with SYS_ADMIN capabilities, enables a threat actor to mount a cgroup directory and modify the notify_on_release flag in order to take advantage of this feature, which could be used for further privilege escalation and container escapes to the host machine.
Tags
Data Source: Elastic Defend for ContainersDomain: ContainerOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

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.file*
Related Integrations

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

Query
text code block:
file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "change" and event.action == "open" and file.name == "notify_on_release" and process.interactive == true and container.id like "*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential notify_on_release Container Escape 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).