GCP Audit: Break-glass Keyword on Kubernetes Pod Create Overrides Binary Authorization

Flags GKE pod creation events where break-glass bypasses Binary Authorization image policy.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v5

Product: gcp
Service: gcp.audit
Author: Bryan Lim (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2024-01-12
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
Defense Evasion
- T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Kubernetes Pod deployments in GCP audit logs where the pod create action occurs and the event payload includes the break-glass image-policy keyword. Attackers may use break-glass to bypass Binary Authorization enforcement for container images, enabling execution of images that would otherwise be blocked. Detection relies on GCP Audit Log entries for pod creation within Kubernetes clusters and the presence of the break-glass keyword in the recorded payload.

Reporting behind it

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GCP Audit: Break-glass Keyword on Kubernetes Pod Create Overrides Binary Authorization

Pivot detection · T1548 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v4
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v3
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

gcp-audit-log-break-glass-flag-kubernetes-pod-created-in-gke-cluster-76737c19

title: "GCP Audit: Break-glass Keyword on Kubernetes Pod Create Overrides Binary Authorization"
id: b2d25c3b-db6f-4b32-9486-31edd79f2391
status: test
description: This rule flags Kubernetes Pod deployments in GCP audit logs where the pod create action occurs and the event payload includes the break-glass image-policy keyword. Attackers may use break-glass to bypass Binary Authorization enforcement for container images, enabling execution of images that would otherwise be blocked. Detection relies on GCP Audit Log entries for pod creation within Kubernetes clusters and the presence of the break-glass keyword in the recorded payload.
references:
  - https://cloud.google.com/binary-authorization
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/gcp/audit/gcp_breakglass_container_workload_deployed.yml
author: Bryan Lim, Huntrule Team
date: 2024-01-12
tags:
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.t1548
logsource:
  product: gcp
  service: gcp.audit
detection:
  selection:
    data.protoPayload.resource.type: k8s_cluster
    data.protoPayload.logName:
      - cloudaudit.googleapis.com/activity
      - cloudaudit.googleapis.com%2Factivity
    data.protoPayload.methodName: io.k8s.core.v1.pods.create
  keywords:
    - image-policy.k8s.io/break-glass
  condition: selection and keywords
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 76737c19-66ee-4c07-b65a-a03301d1573d
    type: derived

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