Sigma rule: Potential Remote Command Execution In Pod Container

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-4c5a39fcbc59, updated 2024-03-26T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potential Remote Command Execution In Pod Container
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Leo Tsaousis (@laripping)
Date
2024-03-26
File
rules/application/kubernetes/audit/kubernetes_audit_exec_into_container.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects attempts to execute remote commands, within a Pod's container using e.g. the "kubectl exec" command.

Log source

product
kubernetes
service
audit
category
application

Detection

selection:
    verb: 'create'
    objectRef.resource: 'pods'
    objectRef.subresource: 'exec'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate debugging activity. Investigate the identity performing the requests and their authorization.

Tags

  • attack.t1609
  • attack.execution

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/application/kubernetes/audit/kubernetes_audit_exec_into_container.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potential Remote Command Execution In Pod Container" by Leo Tsaousis (@laripping) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/application/kubernetes/audit/kubernetes_audit_exec_into_container.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Potential Remote Command Execution In Pod Container",
entity page, dataset version ref-4c5a39fcbc59, updated 2024-03-26T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/a1b0ca4e-7835-413e-8471-3ff2b8a66be6 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule a1b0ca4e-7835-413e-8471-3ff2b8a66be6, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.