Unusual Windows User Calling the Metadata Service
Looks for anomalous access to the cloud platform metadata service by an unusual user. The metadata service may be targeted in order to harvest credentials or user data scripts containing secrets.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
Sunturai publishes a detection's own text where the licence it arrived under has been reviewed and permits it, and Elastic License 2.0 has not. The query as its source wrote it, its canonical form and the hash that pins this revision are in the workspace record.
Detection requirements
- Platform
- ContainersIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
Known benign triggers
- A newly installed program, or one that runs under a new or rarely used user context, could trigger this detection rule. Manual interrogation of the metadata service during debugging or troubleshooting could trigger this rule.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
No references are available for this detection.
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- df197323-72a8-46a9-a08e-3f5b04a4a97a
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Windows Security Event LogsDomain: EndpointOS: WindowsPlatform: WindowsResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Machine LearningRule Type: MLTactic: Credential AccessUse Case: Threat Detection
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 2