Detects a non-system identity using the AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) API server nodes/proxy subresource to reach a node's Kubelet. Proxying through the API server reaches the Kubelet API to enumerate pods or run commands on nodes, a lateral-movement and privilege-escalation vector (kubeletctl, Peirates). Node, control-plane, and kube-system service account identities that routinely proxy for monitoring are excluded, so remaining matches, including compromised workload service accounts, are surfaced for review.

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Detects an AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) identity establishing an exec session into a pod. Interactive command execution inside a workload via kubectl exec is a common post-compromise technique used to access secrets, run tooling, and expand access from a foothold container. Node, control-plane, and kube-system service account identities are excluded, so workload service accounts and users, the identities an adversary is most likely to abuse, remain in scope.

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Detects an identity creating a client-authentication CertificateSigningRequest (signer kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client) or approving a CSR on AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service), excluding node bootstrap and platform controllers. Adversaries submit and self-approve a CSR against the kube-apiserver-client signer to mint a long-lived client certificate for an arbitrary subject (for example a Common Name in system:masters), giving durable authenticated access that survives token revocation. Coverage includes workload service accounts (system:serviceaccount:*), so a compromised in-cluster token forging a certificate is not excluded.

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Detects an identity creating or modifying the CoreDNS or kube-dns ConfigMap in the kube-system namespace on AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service), excluding known AKS control-plane and platform identities. Rewriting cluster DNS (by editing coredns/kube-dns or creating and editing coredns-custom) enables cluster-wide adversary-in-the-middle by redirecting internal service resolution to attacker-controlled IPs, allowing credential capture and traffic interception. Coverage includes workload service accounts (system:serviceaccount:*), so a compromised in-cluster token is not excluded.

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Detects an identity injecting an ephemeral (debug) container into a running AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) pod via the pods/ephemeralcontainers subresource, excluding known AKS control-plane and platform identities. Ephemeral containers share the target pod's namespaces and give stealthy interactive access to its processes and mounted secrets without creating a new pod. Coverage includes workload service accounts (system:serviceaccount:*), so a compromised in-cluster token used to attach a debug container is not excluded.

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Detects use of the AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) API server nodes/proxy subresource to reach a node's Kubelet command-execution endpoints (run, exec, attach, portforward, cri). Unlike benign monitoring that scrapes /metrics and /stats, a request to these endpoints executes commands inside a pod on the node, the core of the kubeletctl and Peirates lateral-movement technique. Even a GET to /exec is command execution because the Kubelet maps the WebSocket upgrade handshake to the RBAC get verb, so nodes/proxy GET is sufficient for remote code execution.

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Detects an identity deleting Kubernetes events on AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service), excluding known AKS control-plane and platform identities. Adversaries delete events (individually or in bulk via deletecollection) to remove evidence of pod creation, exec, or scheduling activity and impair incident response after operating in the cluster. Coverage includes workload service accounts (system:serviceaccount:*), so a compromised in-cluster token wiping events is not excluded.

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Detects successful AKS pod exec sessions whose command resembles reverse-shell or bind-shell one-liner patterns, including /dev/tcp, /dev/udp and gawk /inet redirection, interactive invocation of any common shell, the netcat and ncat exec/listener forms, socat command-execution and listener addresses, mkfifo and mknod pipelines, socket idioms across Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Lua and Node, and tooling such as gsocket, openssl s_server and xterm. Legitimate debug sessions sometimes use similar building blocks, but together these patterns align with post-exploitation interactive access and command-and-control.

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Detects a single Kubernetes identity in AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) that is denied (HTTP 403 Forbidden) across multiple distinct API resource types within a short window. Broad authorization failures spanning many resources are a strong signal of API enumeration (reconnaissance with a stolen service account token), as an actor probes what its credentials can reach before privilege escalation. Detection is based on the breadth of denied resources rather than the raw failure count, so single-resource controller retry loops do not trigger it.

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Detects successful AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) secret get or list operations where the user agent matches scripting runtimes (python, ruby, perl), command-line HTTP clients (curl, wget, HTTPie), or generic HTTP libraries (Go-http-client, okhttp, Apache-HttpClient, Guzzle, axios, undici) rather than typical kubectl or named controller traffic. Reading Kubernetes secrets with a generic client is a common credential-access step after a token or kubeconfig is stolen, and offensive tooling (for example peirates and kdigger) frequently reaches the API with a default Go HTTP client.

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Detects an identity minting a service account token via the AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) TokenRequest API (serviceaccounts/token), excluding known AKS control-plane and platform identities. Adversaries request service account tokens from a compromised identity to impersonate a workload, move laterally, or escalate privileges within the cluster. Coverage includes workload service accounts (system:serviceaccount:*), so a compromised in-cluster token minting a token for another service account is not excluded.

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Detects AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) service account or node identities invoking self-subject access or rules review APIs. Non-human identities rarely enumerate their own permissions outside known controllers; this can indicate stolen tokens probing effective RBAC before privilege escalation.

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Identifies excessive secret or key retrieval operations from Azure Key Vault. This rule detects when a user principal retrieves secrets or keys from Azure Key Vault multiple times within a short time frame, which may indicate potential abuse or unauthorized access attempts. The rule focuses on high-frequency retrieval operations that deviate from normal user behavior, suggesting possible credential harvesting or misuse of sensitive information.

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Identifies secrets, keys, or certificates retrieval operations from Azure Key Vault by a user principal that has not been seen previously doing so in a certain amount of days. Azure Key Vault is a cloud service for securely storing and accessing secrets, keys, and certificates. Unauthorized or excessive retrievals may indicate potential abuse or unauthorized access attempts.

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Identifies the first time an Azure Storage resource receives an anonymous data-plane read (GetBlob and related Get or List operations). Anonymous requests are used to probe public containers and to test stolen blob URLs before a SAS is appended. First-seen resource ID keeps volume down while still covering WireServer-related probes of status or extension blobs.

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Identifies successful GetBlob operations on Azure Storage Accounts using AzCopy user agent with SAS token authentication. AzCopy is a command-line utility for copying data to and from Azure Storage. While legitimate for data migration, adversaries may abuse AzCopy with compromised SAS tokens to exfiltrate data from Azure Storage Accounts. This rule detects the first occurrence of GetBlob operations from a specific storage account using this pattern.

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This rule detects authenticated sessions accessing secret stores across multiple environments from the same source address within a short period of time, including cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) and Kubernetes clusters. Adversaries with access to compromised credentials or session tokens may attempt to retrieve secrets from services such as AWS Secrets Manager, Google Secret Manager, Azure Key Vault, or Kubernetes Secrets in rapid succession to expand their access or exfiltrate sensitive information.

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