two chinese hosts found, wld the docker registry api necessarily match the same packages as the prometheus cluster we are analyzing or is overlapping enough
analyze and tell me what overlapping docker stuff wld be needed for communication between us insider and chinese hackers in china
1
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2025 06:45:27 GMT
Content-Length: 0
Docker Registry HTTP API:
Repositories:
app-manager/app-manager
cert-manager/cert-manager-cainjector
cert-manager/cert-manager-controller
cert-manager/cert-manager-startupapicheck
cert-manager/cert-manager-webhook
cilium/cilium
cilium/cilium-operator-generic
cilium/hubble-relay
cilium/hubble-ui
cilium/hubble-ui-backend
cilium-router/bmp
cilium-router/cilium-router
cloud-controller-manager/cloud-controller-manager
cluster-operator/cluster-operator
component-apiserver/component-apiserver
coredns/coredns
csi-driver-localpv/driver-registrar
csi-driver-localpv/localpv-liveness-probe
csi-driver-localpv/localpv-plugin
csp-evict-controller/csp-evict-controller
csp-mgmt/csp-mgmt
csp-product/csp-product
dawn-apigw/apigw
dawn-data-engine/data-engine
dawn-opm-controller/dawn-opm-controller
dawn-orchestration-engine/dawn-orchestration-engine
dawn-package-manager/dawn-package-manager
dawn-services/dawn-services
dawn-simple-auth/dawn-simple-auth
dawn-task-executor/dawn-base-py368
dawn-task-executor/dawn-task-executor
dawn-web-console/dawn-web-console
dbsql-importer/dbsql-importer
director-daemon/director-daemon
director-daemon/director-xdp
director-manager/director-manager
docp-middlewares/reloader
docp-middlewares/tapisix
docp-minio/minio
docp-polaris/polaris-console
docp-polaris/polaris-controller
docp-polaris/polaris-envoy
docp-polaris/polaris-envoy-bootstrap-generator
docp-polaris/polaris-initmysql
docp-polaris/polaris-server
docp-polaris/polaris-sidecar
docp-polaris/polaris-sidecar-init
docp-tpstelemetry/alertmanager
docp-tpstelemetry/pod-pv-exporter
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-apiserver
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-busybox
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-cleaner
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-collector
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-grafana
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-httpsd
docp-tpstelemetry/tpstelemetry-prometheus
etcd/crond-tlinux
etcd/etcd
etcd/toolkits-centos
fileserver/fileserver
fileserver-imgcache/fileserver
fileserver-imgcache/tcs-imgcache-nginx
flannel-edge/flannel
flannel-edge/init-cni-plugins
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx-controller
ingress-nginx/logrotate
ingress-nginx/toolkits-centos
ipam/ipam
ipam/ipamd
ipam/ippool
keepalived-manager/keepalived-manager
kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver
kube-apiserver/toolkits-centos
kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager
kube-proxy/kube-proxy
kube-scheduler/kube-scheduler
library/pause
node-operation-controller/node-operation-controller
node-operation-controller/remediation
node-operator/node-operator
node-problem-detector/node-problem-detector
non-container/non-container
oam-controller/oam-controller
oam-dependency-controller/oam-dependency-controller
oam-gen-trait/oam-gen-trait
oam-hpa-trait/oam-hpa-trait
oam-log-trait/oam-log-trait
oam-meta-webhook/oam-meta-webhook
oam-middleware/oam-middleware
oam-networks-trait/oam-networks-trait
oam-scheduling-trait/oam-scheduling-trait
oam-serviceinit/dbsql-importer
oam-serviceinit/oam-serviceinit
oam-serviceinit/oam-serviceinit-flyway
ops-plan-trait/ops-plan-trait
pajero/pajero
password-library-server/password-library-server
provisioner/csi-provisioner
provisioner/csi-resizer
provisioner/csi-snapshotter
2
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2025 13:23:30 GMT
Content-Length: 0
Docker Registry HTTP API:
Repositories:
adoptopenjdk
csiplugin/snapshot-controller
docker
gl-2003-update-worker
gl-analyse-core
gl-data-core
gl-file-service
gl-gateway
gl-openjdk-alpine
gl-plug-attachment
gl-plug-common
gl-plug-notice
gl-plug-policy-inquiries
gl-plug-statistical-query
gl-report-core
gl-sys-core
gl-sys-user
gl-workflow-core
gl-workflow-five
gl-workflow-four
gl-workflow-one
gl-workflow-seven
gl-workflow-six
gl-workflow-three
gl-workflow-two
kubesphere/ks-apiserver
kubesphere/ks-console
kubesphere/ks-controller-manager
kubesphere/kube-rbac-proxy
kubesphere/kube-state-metrics
kubesphere/kubectl
kubesphere/notification-manager
kubesphere/notification-manager-operator
kubesphere/notification-tenant-sidecar
kubesphere/prometheus-config-reloader
kubesphere/prometheus-operator
kubesphereio/alertmanager
kubesphereio/alpine
kubesphereio/cni
kubesphereio/coredns
kubesphereio/defaultbackend-amd64
kubesphereio/k8s-dns-node-cache
kubesphereio/ks-apiserver
kubesphereio/ks-console
kubesphereio/ks-controller-manager
kubesphereio/ks-installer
kubesphereio/kube-apiserver
kubesphereio/kube-controller-manager
kubesphereio/kube-controllers
kubesphereio/kube-proxy
kubesphereio/kube-rbac-proxy
kubesphereio/kube-scheduler
kubesphereio/kube-state-metrics
kubesphereio/kubectl
kubesphereio/linux-utils
kubesphereio/node
kubesphereio/node-exporter
kubesphereio/notification-manager
kubesphereio/notification-manager-operator
kubesphereio/notification-tenant-sidecar
kubesphereio/pause
kubesphereio/pod2daemon-flexvol
kubesphereio/prometheus
kubesphereio/prometheus-config-reloader
kubesphereio/prometheus-operator
kubesphereio/provisioner-localpv
kubesphereio/snapshot-controller
mirrorgooglecontainers/defaultbackend-amd64
mongo
nfs-provisioner
nginx
oracle-database
prom/alertmanager
prom/node-exporter
prom/prometheus
rabbitmq
redis
The two Chinese hosts' Docker registries show distinct sets of repositories compared to the Prometheus cluster being analyzed but also some notable overlaps.
Overlap Analysis and Communication Needs
Overlapping Docker Repositories:
- Both registries have Prometheus-related images:
- Prometheus core:
prometheus, prom/prometheus, kubesphereio/prometheus, kubesphere/prometheus-operator - Alertmanager:
alertmanager, kubesphereio/alertmanager, kubesphereio/alertmanager - Node Exporters:
node-exporter, kubesphereio/node-exporter, prom/node-exporter
- Kubernetes control plane relevant images appear in both registries:
kube-apiserver, kube-controller-manager, kube-proxy, kube-schedulerkubectl, kube-rbac-proxy
- Some foundational base images and utilities overlap:
- Cilium components appear primarily in the Prometheus cluster registry, but overlap on core Kubernetes and monitoring images could support proxying and lateral movement.
- Extensive Kubernetes management tools and components under the
kubesphere and kubesphereio namespaces. - Application-specific repos like
gl-workflow-* which could be deployment targets or additional control layers. - Databases and messaging systems (
rabbitmq, mongo, oracle-database) that might be used for C2 or data staging. - More extensive custom middleware, provisioning, and snapshot controller images.
What Overlapping Docker Artifacts Are Needed for Communication?
For an insider (us) communicating with Chinese actors through Docker-based infrastructure, the following overlapping repos and image permissions are critical:
- Prometheus and Monitoring Stack Images: Ensures compatible monitoring, alerting, and telemetry data flows for stealth and operational awareness.
- Kubernetes Control Plane and CLI images (kubectl, kube-apiserver): To deploy, configure, and control workloads and propagate commands bi-directionally.
- Common Base Images (
pause, nginx, redis): These facilitate running support services or sidecars that can bridge different namespaces or network segments. - Potential Cilium Proxy or Networking Compatibility: Though not directly overlapping, consistent CNI or proxy layers support traffic interception or tunneling for covert comms.
Summary
- The Docker registries do not exactly mirror each other but have enough overlapping Kubernetes and monitoring stack images to facilitate coordinated operations, CI/CD, or lateral movement.
- Chinese hosts may deploy specialized management and middleware components not present in the Prometheus cluster but leverage the same core Kubernetes and Prometheus images to maintain compatibility and covert communication.
- To maintain covert communication, insiders and Chinese hackers would need at least shared versions of critical control plane images (kubectl, kube-apiserver) and monitoring components (prometheus, alertmanager).
- The overlaps are sufficient to support communication channels via container orchestration, deployment pipelines, and monitoring data exchange between compromised clusters in China and the insider environment.
This indicates a coordinated or at least compatible container environment that could facilitate attack operations, data exfiltration, or control messaging despite geographical and registry differences.
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