Suspicious Kubernetes Secret and Permission Enumeration via kubectl (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1613Container and Resource Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects kubectl invocations that enumerate permissions or read secrets, matching reconnaissance from the Hell's Keychain supply-chain research on IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL. Attackers list allowed actions and dump secrets to find credentials for lateral movement. Broad secret enumeration from an unexpected principal is a strong discovery indicator.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1613 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Kubernetes Secret Enumeration via kubectl

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Suspicious Kubernetes Secret and Permission Enumeration via kubectl (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1613 · 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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