AWS EKS Forbidden Request from Unusual User Agent

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-10-21

Created 3 months ago on 2026-08-03

About

This rule detects when a forbidden request is made from an unusual user agent in a Kubernetes environment. Adversary tooling may use non-standard or unexpected user agents to interact with the Kubernetes API, which can indicate an attempt to evade detection or blend in with legitimate traffic. In combination with a forbidden request, this behavior can suggest an adversary is attempting to exploit vulnerabilities or misconfigurations in the Kubernetes cluster.

Tags

Domain: CloudDomain: ContainersPlatform: AWSPlatform: KubernetesData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: Kubernetes API Server Audit LogsService: AWS EKSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionTactic: DiscoveryRule Type: New TermsProfile: BetaLanguage: kuery

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

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

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

License

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

Definition

Rule Type: New Terms Rule
Integration Pack: Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns: logs-aws.eks_audit-*
Related Integrations: aws(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗data_stream.dataset:"aws.eks_audit" and
aws.eks.audit.stage:"ResponseComplete" and
aws.eks.audit.annotations.authorization_k8s_io/decision:"forbid" and
user_agent.original:(* and not (*kubernetes/$Format)) and
not user.name:eks\:*

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS EKS Forbidden Request from Unusual User Agent 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).