Possible Kubernetes Service Account Token Theft from Pod Secrets Path

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
- T1552.005Cloud Instance Metadata API
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a process referencing the in-pod service-account secrets directory where Kubernetes mounts the projected token, ca certificate and namespace, a credential-access step observed in real-world cluster attacks. Reading this token lets an attacker authenticate to the Kubernetes API as the pod identity and expand access across the cluster.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1552.005 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Cloud Instance Metadata Token Theft via IMDS Identity Endpoint (via process_creation)

Suspicious GCP Metadata Service Token Access via Command Line (via process_creation)

Suspicious Bulk Kubernetes Secret Dump via Kubectl

Suspicious Cloud Instance Metadata Access via Command Line Tool

Suspicious Cloud Instance Metadata Credential Access via curl to IMDS (via process_creation)

Possible Jamf Pro SSRF Exploitation via eduFeatureSettingsTest imageUrl (via webserver)

Possible WebSphere Portal SSRF via Proxy Servlet targeting Cloud Metadata (CVE-2021-27748) (via webserver)

Possible SSRF to AWS Metadata via Workspace One UEM BlobHandler CVE-2021-22054

Possible SSRF via Gatsby _gatsby File Proxy Endpoint

Possible Kubernetes Service Account Token Theft from Pod Secrets Path

Pivot detection · T1552.005 · 9 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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