Cloud Credential Search Detected via Defend for Containers

[metadata]
creation_date = "2023/05/12"
integration = ["cloud_defend"]
maturity = "production"
min_stack_comments = "Defend for Containers integration was re-introduced in 9.3.0"
min_stack_version = "9.3.0"
updated_date = "2026/07/29"

[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
description = """
This rule detects the use of system search utilities like grep and find to search for AWS credentials inside a
container. Unauthorized access to these sensitive files could lead to further compromise of the container
environment or facilitate a container breakout to the underlying cloud environment.
"""
from = "now-6m"
index = ["logs-cloud_defend.process*"]
interval = "5m"
language = "eql"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Cloud Credential Search Detected via Defend for Containers"
references = ["https://sysdig.com/blog/threat-detection-aws-cloud-containers/"]
risk_score = 47
rule_id = "d0b0f3ed-0b37-44bf-adee-e8cb7de92767"
severity = "medium"
tags = [
    "Data Source: Elastic Defend for Containers",
    "Domain: Container",
    "OS: Linux",
    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
    "Tactic: Credential Access",
    "Resources: Investigation Guide",
]
timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
type = "eql"
query = '''
process where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "exec" and (
  process.name in ("grep", "egrep", "fgrep", "find", "locate", "mlocate", "cat", "sed", "awk") or
  (
    /* Account for tools that execute utilities as a subprocess, in this case the target utility name will appear as a process arg */
    process.name in ("bash", "dash", "sh", "tcsh", "csh", "zsh", "ksh", "fish", "busybox") and
    process.args in (
      "grep", "/bin/grep", "/usr/bin/grep", "/usr/local/bin/grep",
      "egrep", "/bin/egrep", "/usr/bin/egrep", "/usr/local/bin/egrep",
      "fgrep", "/bin/fgrep", "/usr/bin/fgrep", "/usr/local/bin/fgrep",
      "find", "/bin/find", "/usr/bin/find", "/usr/local/bin/find",
      "locate", "/bin/locate", "/usr/bin/locate", "/usr/local/bin/locate",
      "mlocate", "/bin/mlocate", "/usr/bin/mlocate", "/usr/local/bin/mlocate",
      "cat", "/bin/cat", "/usr/bin/cat", "/usr/local/bin/cat",
      "sed", "/bin/sed", "/usr/bin/sed", "/usr/local/bin/sed",
      "awk", "/bin/awk", "/usr/bin/awk", "/usr/local/bin/awk"
    ) and 
    /* default exclusion list to not FP on default multi-process commands */
    not process.args in (
      "which", "/bin/which", "/usr/bin/which", "/usr/local/bin/which",
      "man", "/bin/man", "/usr/bin/man", "/usr/local/bin/man",
      "chmod", "/bin/chmod", "/usr/bin/chmod", "/usr/local/bin/chmod",
      "chown", "/bin/chown", "/usr/bin/chown", "/usr/local/bin/chown"
    )
  )
)
and
process.args like~ (
  /* AWS Credentials */
  "*aws_access_key_id*", "*aws_secret_access_key*", "*aws_session_token*", "*accesskeyid*", "*secretaccesskey*",
  "*access_key*", "*.aws/credentials*",

  /* Azure Credentials */
  "*AZURE_CLIENT_ID*", "*AZURE_TENANT_ID*", "*AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET*", "*AZURE_FEDERATED_TOKEN_FILE*",
  "*IDENTITY_ENDPOINT*", "*IDENTITY_HEADER*", "*MSI_ENDPOINT*", "*MSI_SECRET*",
  "*/.azure/*", "*/var/run/secrets/azure/*",

  /* GCP Credentials */
  "*/.config/gcloud/*", "*application_default_credentials.json*",
  "*type: service_account*", "*client_email*", "*private_key_id*", "*private_key*",
  "*/var/run/secrets/google/*", "*GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS*"
) and container.id like "*" 
'''

[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"

[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1552"
name = "Unsecured Credentials"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1552/"

[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1552.001"
name = "Credentials In Files"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1552/001/"

[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0006"
name = "Credential Access"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0006/"

[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"

[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1083"
name = "File and Directory Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1083/"

[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0007"
name = "Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/"