GKE Unusual Service Account Secret Access via New User Agent
Detects the first successful GKE secrets.get by a pod service account from a previously unseen combination of service-account identity, user agent, and source IP. Controllers routinely read secrets with a stable…
Description
Detects the first successful GKE secrets.get by a pod service account from a previously unseen combination of service-account identity, user agent, and source IP. Controllers routinely read secrets with a stable client fingerprint; a new user agent or source for that service account could indicate a stolen token used outside the workload (for example curl, a custom script, or kubectl from an unexpected host).
Detection logic
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Detection requirements
- Platform
- ContainersIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- Controller upgrades, sidecar replacements, or client library version bumps change user agents and can produce a first-seen alert for known service accounts. Confirm the new client is expected before treating as compromise.
- Newly deployed operators or workloads that change egress IP will alert once while the history window learns their client fingerprint.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/authentication/#service-account-tokens | 7 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 5dd3358c-4664-4b4c-aca1-b3fa4a4c83c9
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: GCPData Source: Google Cloud PlatformDomain: CloudDomain: ContainersDomain: KubernetesNoise: LowPerformance: FastPlatform: GCPPlatform: KubernetesResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: New TermsTactic: Credential AccessUse Case: Threat Detection
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3