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T1059.013: Container CLI/API

View on MITRE ATT&CK The MITRE Corporation · Published 16/12/2025 19:38 · Modified 27/03/2026 01:11

Essential information

MITRE technique ID
T1059.013
Confidence
100/100
Revoked
No
Published
16/12/2025 19:38
Modified
27/03/2026 01:11
Author / Source
The MITRE Corporation

Platforms

Containers

Description

Adversaries may abuse built-in CLI tools or API calls to execute malicious commands in containerized environments. The Docker CLI is used for managing containers via an exposed API point from the `dockerd` daemon. Some common examples of Docker CLI include Docker Desktop CLI and Docker Compose, but users are also able to use SDKs to interact with the API. For example, Docker SDK for Python can be used to run commands within a Python application.(Citation: Docker Desktop CLI) Adversaries may leverage the Docker CLI, API, or SDK to pull or build Docker images (i.e., [Ingress Tool Transfer](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1105), [Build Image on Host](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1612)), run containers (i.e., [Deploy Container](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1610)), or execute commands inside running containers (i.e., [Container Administration Command](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1609)). In some cases, threat actors may pull legitimate images that include scripts or tools that they can leverage - for example, using an image that includes the `curl` command to download payloads.(Citation: Intezer) Adversaries may also utilize `docker inspect` and `docker ps` to scan for cloud environment variables and other running containers (i.e., [Container and Resource Discovery](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1613)).(Citation: Cisco Talos Blog)(Citation: aquasec) Kubernetes is responsible for the management and orchestration of containers across clusters. The Kubernetes control plane, which manages the state of the cluster and is responsible for scheduling, communication, and resource monitoring, can be invoked directly via the API or indirectly via CLI tools such as `kubectl`. It may also be accessed within client libraries such as Go or Python. By utilizing the API, administrators can interact with resources within the cluster such as listing or creating pods, which is a group of one or more containers. Adversaries call the API server via `curl` or other tools, allowing them to obtain further information about the environment such as pods, deployments, daemonsets, namespaces, or sysvars.(Citation: aquasec) They may also run various commands regarding resource management.

Kill chain phases

Kill chainPhase
mitre-attack execution

Marking (TLP)

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External references