Kubernetes Denied Service Account Request

This rule detects when a service account makes an unauthorized request for resources from the API server. Service accounts follow a very predictable pattern of behavior. A service account should never send an unauthorized request to the API server. This behavior is likely an indicator of compromise or of a problem within the cluster. An adversary may have gained access to credentials/tokens and this could be an attempt to access or create resources to facilitate further movement or execution within the cluster.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

logs-kubernetes.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: None (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

Elastic
Kubernetes
Continuous Monitoring
Discovery

Version: 2

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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Rule query

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event.dataset: "kubernetes.audit_logs"
  and kubernetes.audit.user.username: system\:serviceaccount\:*
  and kubernetes.audit.annotations.authorization_k8s_io/decision: "forbid"

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Discovery
- ID: TA0007
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/
Technique:
- Name: Container and Resource Discovery
- ID: T1613
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1613/

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