Suspicious Cloud Instance Metadata Token Retrieval via Command-Line Tool
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-20
- Updated
- 2026-10-20
ATT&CK techniques
Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects command-line tools such as curl or PowerShell requesting an access token from a cloud instance metadata endpoint. Attackers query metadata.google.internal, the 169.254.169.254 link-local address, or the Azure managed-identity endpoint to steal short-lived workload tokens after gaining code execution. Harvesting these tokens lets adversaries impersonate cloud service identities.
Reporting behind it
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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