Service Account Namespace Read Detected via Defend for Containers

Last updated 7 days ago on 2026-01-27

Created 13 days ago on 2026-01-21

About

This rule detects the reading of the service account namespace file inside a container. The service account namespace file is used to identify the namespace of the container in which it is running, and may be used by an adversary to get a better understanding of the container and the services running inside it.

Tags

Data Source: Elastic Defend for ContainersDomain: ContainerOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: DiscoveryLanguage: eql

Severity

low

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

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

↳ System Information Discovery (T1082)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

There is a potential for false positives if the reading of the service account namespace file is used for legitimate purposes, such as debugging or troubleshooting. It is important to investigate any alerts generated by this rule to determine if they are indicative of malicious activity or part of legitimate container activity.

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

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "change" and event.action == "open" and
file.path == "/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace" and
process.interactive == true and container.id like "*"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Service Account Namespace Read 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).