Creation Of Pod In System Namespace — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Leo Tsaousis (@laripping). Source status: test; severity: medium. Source dates: 2024-03-26 / not supplied.

{
  "category": "application",
  "product": "kubernetes",
  "service": "audit"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: ffca915cb3017f82c8595e0d361e296a4a0c5fba69f53b0341c0cc77c962d8a6

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

title: Creation Of Pod In System Namespace
id: a80d927d-ac6e-443f-a867-e8d6e3897318
status: test
description: |
    Detects deployments of pods within the kube-system namespace, which could be intended to imitate system pods.
    System pods, created by controllers such as Deployments or DaemonSets have random suffixes in their names.
    Attackers can use this fact and name their backdoor pods as if they were created by these controllers to avoid detection.
    Deployment of such a backdoor container e.g. named kube-proxy-bv61v, could be attempted in the kube-system namespace alongside the other administrative containers.
references:
    - https://microsoft.github.io/Threat-Matrix-for-Kubernetes/techniques/Pod%20or%20container%20name%20similarily/
author: Leo Tsaousis (@laripping)
date: 2024-03-26
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1036.005
logsource:
    category: application
    product: kubernetes
    service: audit
detection:
    selection:
        verb: 'create'
        objectRef.resource: 'pods'
        objectRef.namespace: kube-system
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - System components such as daemon-set-controller and kube-scheduler also create pods in the kube-system namespace
level: medium

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• System components such as daemon-set-controller and kube-scheduler also create pods in the kube-system namespace

Source references

• https://microsoft.github.io/Threat-Matrix-for-Kubernetes/techniques/Pod%20or%20container%20name%20similarily/