Kubernetes Possible Enumeration Behavior (via audit)

title: Kubernetes Possible Enumeration Behavior (via audit)
id: 3417fc6b-2969-5e4c-a526-c400fece2656
status: stable
description: This rule detects potential Kubernetes enumeration or attack behavior via the audit log. This includes the execution of common shells, utilities, or specialized tools like 'Rakkess' (access_matrix) and 'TruffleHog' via Kubernetes API requests. Attackers use these methods to perform reconnaissance (enumeration), secret harvesting, or execute code (exec) within a cluster.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1613/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1609/
    - https://www.nccgroup.com/research/detection-engineering-for-kubernetes-clusters/
    - https://github.com/trufflesecurity/trufflehog
    - https://github.com/corneliusweig/rakkess
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-07-02
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.t1609
    - attack.t1613
logsource:
    product: kubernetes
    service: audit
detection:
    selection_status:
        responseStatus.code: 'ALLOW'
    selection_request_uri:
        requestURI|contains:
            - '%2fbin%2fash'
            - '%2fbin%2fbash'
            - '%2fbin%2fbusybox'
            - '%2fbin%2fdash'
            - '%2fbin%2fsh'
            - '%2fbin%2fzsh'
            - '/bin/ash'
            - '/bin/bash'
            - '/bin/busybox'
            - '/bin/dash'
            - '/bin/sh'
            - '/bin/zsh'
            - '%2fusr%2fbin%2fcurl'
            - '%2fusr%2fbin%2fkubectl'
            - '%2fusr%2fbin%2fperl'
            - '%2fusr%2fbin%2fpython'
            - '%2fusr%2fbin%2fwget'
            - '/usr/bin/curl'
            - '/usr/bin/kubectl'
            - '/usr/bin/perl'
            - '/usr/bin/python'
            - '/usr/bin/wget'
    selection_request_user_agent:
        userAgent|contains:
            - 'access_matrix'
            - 'trufflehog'
            - 'azurehound'
            - 'micro-scanner'
    condition: selection_status and 1 of selection_request_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium