Detection coverage in DCV across AWS, Azure and GCP for Implant Internal Image, plus the corresponding Sigma rules in the CloudSigma library. Source data refreshed 2026-04-24.
Adversaries may implant cloud or container images with malicious code to establish persistence after gaining access to an environment. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Images, and Azure Images as well as popular container runtimes such as Docker can be implanted or backdoored. Unlike Upload Malware, this technique focuses on adversaries implanting an image in a registry within a victim’s environment. Depending on how the infrastructure is provisioned, this could provide persistent access if the infrastructure provisioning tool is instructed to always use the latest image.
A tool has been developed to facilitate planting backdoors in cloud container images. If an adversary has access to a compromised AWS instance, and permissions to list the available container images, they may implant a backdoor such as a Web Shell.
Platforms: IaaS, Containers.
DCV maps 27 detections across 3 cloud providers to T1525. Coverage by source:
| Source | Cloud | Findings mapped | Avg confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Policy | Azure | 8 | 0.89 |
| AWS Config Rules | AWS | 6 | 0.55 |
| GCP Security Command Center | GCP | 6 | 0.87 |
| Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Azure | 6 | 0.94 |
| AWS Inspector | AWS | 1 | 0.75 |
CloudSigma ships 3 production-ready Sigma rules that detect T1525 across 3 platforms. Every rule below is validated against its source SIEM dialect before publication.
This rule is currently experimental. CloudSigma generated it from upstream threat intelligence; before enabling in production, tune the falsepositives section in your SIEM against your environment's known automation, service accounts and IP allowlist.
title: AWS Container Image Implant via ECR Push
id: 5d4ede0d-fe82-48ab-8ce4-e0607ac0e924
status: experimental
description: Detects pushing of container images to ECR repositories and repository creation that may indicate implanting
a backdoored internal image. Adversaries may implant malicious images that execute when containers are deployed.
author: CloudSigma
date: 2026-02-06
references:
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1525/
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECR/latest/userguide/image-push.html
tags:
- attack.persistence
- attack.t1525
logsource:
product: aws
service: cloudtrail
detection:
selection:
eventSource: ecr.amazonaws.com
eventName:
- PutImage
- CreateRepository
- BatchDeleteImage
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate container image publishing by CI/CD pipelines
- Authorized ECR repository management
level: medium