Kubernetes Create or Update Privileged Pod

name: Kubernetes Create or Update Privileged Pod
id: 3c6bd734-334d-4818-ae7c-5234313fc5da
version: 8
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Patrick Bareiss, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects the creation or update of privileged pods in Kubernetes. It identifies this activity by monitoring Kubernetes Audit logs for pod configurations that include root privileges. This behavior is significant for a SOC as it could indicate an attempt to escalate privileges, exploit the kernel, and gain full access to the host's namespace and devices. If confirmed malicious, this activity could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information, data breaches, and service disruptions, posing a severe threat to the environment.
data_source:
    - Kubernetes Audit
search: |-
    `kube_audit` objectRef.resource=pods verb=create OR verb=update requestObject.metadata.annotations.kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration=*\"privileged\":true*
      | fillnull
      | stats count values(user.groups{}) as user_groups
        BY kind objectRef.name objectRef.namespace
           objectRef.resource requestObject.kind responseStatus.code
           sourceIPs{} stage user.username
           userAgent verb requestObject.metadata.annotations.kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration
      | rename sourceIPs{} as src_ip, user.username as user
      | `kubernetes_create_or_update_privileged_pod_filter`
how_to_implement: The detection is based on data that originates from Kubernetes Audit logs. Ensure that audit logging is enabled in your Kubernetes cluster. Kubernetes audit logs provide a record of the requests made to the Kubernetes API server, which is crucial for monitoring and detecting suspicious activities. Configure the audit policy in Kubernetes to determine what kind of activities are logged. This is done by creating an Audit Policy and providing it to the API server. Use the Splunk OpenTelemetry Collector for Kubernetes to collect the logs. This doc will describe how to collect the audit log file https://github.com/signalfx/splunk-otel-collector-chart/blob/main/docs/migration-from-sck.md. When you want to use this detection with AWS EKS, you need to enable EKS control plane logging https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/control-plane-logs.html. Then you can collect the logs from Cloudwatch using the AWS TA https://splunk.github.io/splunk-add-on-for-amazon-web-services/CloudWatchLogs/.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
    - https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug/debug-cluster/audit/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") starthoursago=168  | 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: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: Kubernetes privileged pod created by user $user$.
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
    threat_objects:
        - field: src_ip
          type: ip_address
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Kubernetes Security
    asset_type: Kubernetes
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1204
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: network
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1204/kubernetes_privileged_pod/kubernetes_privileged_pod.json
          sourcetype: _json
          source: kubernetes