Kubernetes Scanner Image Pulling

name: Kubernetes Scanner Image Pulling
id: 4890cd6b-0112-4974-a272-c5c153aee551
version: 10
creation_date: '2021-08-24'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Patrick Bareiss, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects the pulling of known Kubernetes security scanner images such as kube-hunter, kube-bench, and kube-recon. It leverages Kubernetes logs ingested through Splunk Connect for Kubernetes, specifically monitoring for messages indicating the pulling of these images. This activity is significant because the use of security scanners can indicate an attempt to identify vulnerabilities within the Kubernetes environment. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to the discovery and exploitation of security weaknesses, potentially compromising the entire Kubernetes cluster.
data_source: []
search: |-
    `kube_objects_events` object.message IN ("Pulling image *kube-hunter*", "Pulling image *kube-bench*", "Pulling image *kube-recon*", "Pulling image *kube-recon*")
      | rename object.* AS *
      | rename involvedObject.* AS *
      | rename source.host AS host
      | eval phase="operate"
      | eval severity="high"
      | stats min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count
        BY host, name, namespace,
           kind, reason, message,
           phase, severity
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `kubernetes_scanner_image_pulling_filter`
how_to_implement: You must ingest Kubernetes logs through Splunk Connect for Kubernetes.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
    - https://github.com/splunk/splunk-connect-for-kubernetes
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$host$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  host = "$host$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$host$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$host$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
finding:
    title: Kubernetes Scanner image pulled on host $host$
    entity:
        field: host
        type: system
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - Dev Sec Ops
asset_type: Kubernetes
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1526
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: network
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1526/kubernetes_kube_hunter/kubernetes_kube_hunter.json
          sourcetype: kube:objects:events
          source: kubernetes
      test_type: unit