monitoring and log-collection agents that run outside kube-system (for example a metrics agent in its own namespace) proxy to the kubelet on every scrape and will match repeatedly. add targeted exclusions for verified monitoring service accounts and namespaces after review.

Techniques

Sample rules

Azure AKS API Server Proxying Request to Kubelet

source: elastic
technicques:
- T1210
- T1609

Description

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.

Detection logic

data_stream.dataset:azure.platformlogs and
  event.action:"Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/diagnosticLogs/Read" and
  azure.platformlogs.category:"kube-audit" and
  azure.platformlogs.properties.log.objectRef.resource:"nodes" and
  azure.platformlogs.properties.log.objectRef.subresource:"proxy" and
  not azure.platformlogs.properties.log.user.username:(
    system\:node\:* or "aksService" or "hcpService" or "readinessChecker" or
    system\:serviceaccount\:kube-system\:*
  )