Malicious Container Escape via core_pattern Hijack (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1611Escape to Host
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a process writing to the kernel core_pattern handler under proc sys kernel, a technique used in the BrokenSesame research to break out of a container by having a crash trigger execution on the host. Attackers set core_pattern to a pipe handler and then force a segfault to run code with host privileges. Modification of this kernel path from a workload is a strong escape signal.

Reporting behind it

Related detections6 linkedT1611 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Cgroup release_agent Abuse for Container Escape

Malicious Direct etcd Write to Kubernetes Registry via ETCDCTL_API (via process_creation)

Kubernetes Pod Created With hostPath Volume Mount

Kubernetes Privileged Pod Created via Pod Creation Requests

Malicious Container Escape via core_pattern Hijack (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1611 · 6 related

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

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