Add Experiments for Discovery Tactic #28
Description
The discovery tactic consists of techniques that are used by attackers to explore the environment to which they gained access. This exploration helps the attackers to perform lateral movement and gain access to additional resources.
Access the Kubernetes API server
The Kubernetes API server is the gateway to the cluster. Actions in the cluster are performed by sending various requests to the RESTful API. The status of the cluster, which includes all the components that are deployed on it, can be retrieved by the API server. Attackers may send API requests to probe the cluster and get information about containers, secrets, and other resources in the cluster.
Access Kubelet API
Kubelet is the Kubernetes agent that is installed on each node. Kubelet is responsible for the proper execution of pods that are assigned to the node. Kubelet exposes a read-only API service that does not require authentication (TCP port 10255). Attackers with network access to the host (for example, via running code on a compromised container) can send API requests to the Kubelet API. Specifically querying https://[NODE IP]:10255/pods/ retrieves the running pods on the node. https://[NODE IP]:10255/spec/ retrieves information about the node itself, such as CPU and memory consumption.
Network mapping
Attackers may try to map the cluster network to get information on the running applications, including scanning for known vulnerabilities. By default, there is no restriction on pods communication in Kubernetes. Therefore, attackers who gain access to a single container, may use it to probe the network.
Access Kubernetes dashboard
The Kubernetes dashboard is a web-based UI that is used for monitoring and managing the Kubernetes cluster. The dashboard allows users to perform actions in the cluster using its service account (kubernetes-dashboard) with the permissions that are determined by the binding or cluster-binding for this service account. Attackers who gain access to a container in the cluster, can use its network access to the dashboard pod. Consequently, attackers may retrieve information about the various resources in the cluster using the dashboard’s identity.
Instance Metadata API
Cloud providers provide instance metadata service for retrieving information about the virtual machine, such as network configuration, disks, and SSH public keys. This service is accessible to the VMs via a non-routable IP address that can be accessed from within the VM only. Attackers who gain access to a container, may query the metadata API service for getting information about the underlying node. For example, in Azure, the following request would retrieve all the metadata information of an instance: http:///metadata/instance?api-version=2019-06-01