Kubernetes DaemonSet Created

Severity: informational
Group by: namespace, username
Log types: Amazon.EKS.Audit, Azure.MonitorActivity, GCP.AuditLog
Tags: Kubernetes, Security Control, Persistence, Deploy Container, Unified Detection
Reference: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/daemonset/
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

This detection monitors for creation of DaemonSets in Kubernetes clusters. DaemonSets ensure that a copy of a pod runs on all (or selected) nodes in the cluster. Attackers may abuse DaemonSets to deploy malicious containers across all nodes for cluster-wide persistence, credential harvesting, cryptomining, or lateral movement. This detection works across AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and GCP GKE clusters.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1610` Deploy Container
Persistence	`T1543` Create or Modify System Process

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
RuleID: "Kubernetes.DaemonSet.Created"
DisplayName: "Kubernetes DaemonSet Created"
Enabled: true
Filename: k8s_daemonset_created.py
LogTypes:
  - Amazon.EKS.Audit
  - Azure.MonitorActivity
  - GCP.AuditLog
Tags:
  - Kubernetes
  - Security Control
  - Persistence
  - Deploy Container
  - Unified Detection
Severity: Info
Description: >
  This detection monitors for creation of DaemonSets in Kubernetes clusters.
  DaemonSets ensure that a copy of a pod runs on all (or selected) nodes in the cluster.
  Attackers may abuse DaemonSets to deploy malicious containers across all nodes for
  cluster-wide persistence, credential harvesting, cryptomining, or lateral movement.
  This detection works across AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and GCP GKE clusters.
Runbook: |
  1. Review all DaemonSet and Deployment creation events by username in the 24 hours before the alert to establish if this is routine activity
  2. Analyze the container image, hostPath volumes, and privileged security context from the requestObject specification to identify risk factors
  3. Search for similar DaemonSet deployments by this user in the past 90 days and compare images, namespaces, and security settings to identify anomalies
Reference: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/daemonset/
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0002:T1610 # Execution: Deploy Container
    - TA0003:T1543 # Persistence: Create or Modify System Process
DedupPeriodMinutes: 60
SummaryAttributes:
  - username
  - namespace
  - p_source_label
Tests:
  - Name: EKS DaemonSet Created
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "kind": "Event",
        "apiVersion": "audit.k8s.io/v1",
        "auditID": "abc-123",
        "verb": "create",
        "user": {"username": "admin@example.com"},
        "sourceIPs": ["1.2.3.4"],
        "userAgent": "kubectl/v1.28.0",
        "objectRef": {
          "resource": "daemonsets",
          "namespace": "kube-system",
          "name": "monitoring-agent",
          "apiVersion": "apps/v1"
        },
        "responseStatus": {"code": 201},
        "requestURI": "/apis/apps/v1/namespaces/kube-system/daemonsets",
        "requestObject": {
          "kind": "DaemonSet",
          "metadata": {"name": "monitoring-agent", "namespace": "kube-system"},
          "spec": {
            "selector": {"matchLabels": {"app": "monitoring"}},
            "template": {
              "metadata": {"labels": {"app": "monitoring"}},
              "spec": {
                "containers": [{
                  "name": "agent",
                  "image": "monitoring-agent:latest",
                  "volumeMounts": [{
                    "name": "docker-sock",
                    "mountPath": "/var/run/docker.sock"
                  }]
                }],
                "volumes": [{
                  "name": "docker-sock",
                  "hostPath": {"path": "/var/run/docker.sock"}
                }]
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "p_log_type": "Amazon.EKS.Audit",
        "p_source_label": "eks-cluster"
      }
  - Name: AKS DaemonSet Created
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "p_log_type": "Azure.MonitorActivity",
        "category": "kube-audit",
        "operationName": "Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/diagnosticLogs/Read",
        "properties": {
          "log": "{\"kind\":\"Event\",\"apiVersion\":\"audit.k8s.io/v1\",\"verb\":\"create\",\"user\":{\"username\":\"admin@example.com\"},\"sourceIPs\":[\"10.0.0.1\"],\"objectRef\":{\"resource\":\"daemonsets\",\"namespace\":\"default\",\"name\":\"log-collector\"},\"responseStatus\":{\"code\":201},\"requestURI\":\"/apis/apps/v1/namespaces/default/daemonsets\"}"
        },
        "p_source_label": "aks-cluster"
      }
  - Name: GCP GKE DaemonSet Created
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "protoPayload": {
          "authenticationInfo": {"principalEmail": "user@company.com"},
          "authorizationInfo": [{
            "granted": true,
            "permission": "io.k8s.apps.v1.daemonsets.create",
            "resource": "apps/v1/namespaces/kube-system/daemonsets/node-exporter"
          }],
          "methodName": "io.k8s.apps.v1.daemonsets.create",
          "requestMetadata": {
            "callerIP": "1.2.3.4",
            "callerSuppliedUserAgent": "kubectl/v1.27.0"
          },
          "resourceName": "apps/v1/namespaces/kube-system/daemonsets/node-exporter",
          "serviceName": "k8s.io",
          "request": {
            "kind": "DaemonSet",
            "metadata": {"name": "node-exporter", "namespace": "kube-system"}
          }
        },
        "resource": {
          "type": "k8s_cluster",
          "labels": {"project_id": "test-project"}
        },
        "p_log_type": "GCP.AuditLog",
        "p_source_label": "gke-cluster"
      }
  - Name: DaemonSet Creation Failed
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "kind": "Event",
        "verb": "create",
        "objectRef": {
          "resource": "daemonsets",
          "namespace": "default",
          "name": "test-ds"
        },
        "responseStatus": {"code": 403, "status": "Failure"},
        "p_log_type": "Amazon.EKS.Audit"
      }
  - Name: Deployment Creation (Not DaemonSet)
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "kind": "Event",
        "verb": "create",
        "objectRef": {
          "resource": "deployments",
          "namespace": "default",
          "name": "web-app"
        },
        "responseStatus": {"code": 201},
        "p_log_type": "Amazon.EKS.Audit"
      }
  - Name: DaemonSet Update (Not Create)
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "kind": "Event",
        "verb": "update",
        "objectRef": {
          "resource": "daemonsets",
          "namespace": "kube-system",
          "name": "existing-ds"
        },
        "responseStatus": {"code": 200},
        "p_log_type": "Amazon.EKS.Audit"
      }
  - Name: System controller creating DaemonSet in kube-system (excluded)
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "kind": "Event",
        "apiVersion": "audit.k8s.io/v1",
        "verb": "create",
        "user": {"username": "system:serviceaccount:kube-system:daemon-set-controller"},
        "sourceIPs": ["10.0.0.1"],
        "objectRef": {
          "resource": "daemonsets",
          "namespace": "kube-system",
          "name": "kube-proxy",
          "apiVersion": "apps/v1"
        },
        "responseStatus": {"code": 201},
        "p_log_type": "Amazon.EKS.Audit",
        "p_source_label": "eks-cluster"
      }

Detection logic

Condition

verb eq "create"
resource eq "daemonsets"
not (responseStatus is_not_null and (responseStatus.code ge "400" or (responseStatus.code ge "1" and responseStatus.code le "16")))
not (namespace is_not_null and namespace in ["kube-system", "gke-system", "kube-node-lease", "kube-public"] and username is_not_null and (username in ["masterclient", "aksService"] or (username starts_with "system:" and username not contains "serviceaccount")))

This rule also runs imperative logic the parser cannot express as a filter; the conditions above are the structured part it could extract.

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`username`	contains	`serviceaccount`
`username`	starts_with	`system:`
`username`	in	`aksService`, `masterclient`
`namespace`	in	`gke-system`, `kube-node-lease`, `kube-public`, `kube-system`
`namespace`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`username`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`responseStatus.code`	ge	`1`
`responseStatus.code`	le	`16`
`responseStatus.code`	ge	`400`
`responseStatus`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`resource`	eq	`daemonsets`
`username`	contains	`serviceaccount`
`verb`	eq	`create`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`username`
`sourceIPs`
`userAgent`
`namespace`
`verb`
`resource`
`requestURI`
`responseStatus`
`cluster`	`p_source_label`
`name`

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`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
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`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
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`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
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`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)