Detection: AWS CreateLoginProfile

Description

The following analytic identifies the creation of a login profile for one AWS user by another, followed by a console login from the same source IP. It uses AWS CloudTrail logs to correlate the CreateLoginProfile and ConsoleLogin events based on the source IP and user identity. This activity is significant as it may indicate privilege escalation, where an attacker creates a new login profile to gain unauthorized access. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to escalate privileges and maintain persistent access to the AWS environment.

 1`cloudtrail` eventName = CreateLoginProfile 
 2| rename requestParameters.userName as new_login_profile 
 3| table src_ip eventName new_login_profile userIdentity.userName  
 4| join new_login_profile src_ip [
 5| search `cloudtrail` eventName = ConsoleLogin 
 6| rename userIdentity.userName  as new_login_profile 
 7| stats count values(eventName) min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by eventSource aws_account_id errorCode userAgent eventID awsRegion userIdentity.principalId user_arn new_login_profile src_ip 
 8| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
 9| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`] 
10| `aws_createloginprofile_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
AWS CloudTrail ConsoleLogin AWS icon AWS 'aws:cloudtrail' 'aws_cloudtrail'
AWS CloudTrail CreateLoginProfile AWS icon AWS 'aws:cloudtrail' 'aws_cloudtrail'

Macros Used

Name Value
cloudtrail sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail
aws_createloginprofile_filter search *
aws_createloginprofile_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1136.003 Cloud Account Persistence
T1136 Create Account Persistence
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_13
APT29
LAPSUS$
Indrik Spider
Scattered Spider

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting Value
Disabled true
Cron Schedule 0 * * * *
Earliest Time -70m@m
Latest Time -10m@m
Schedule Window auto
Creates Notable Yes
Rule Title %name%
Rule Description %description%
Notable Event Fields user, dest
Creates Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

You must install splunk AWS add on and Splunk App for AWS. This search works with AWS CloudTrail logs.

Known False Positives

While this search has no known false positives, it is possible that an AWS admin has legitimately created a login profile for another user.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
User $user_arn$ is attempting to create a login profile for $new_login_profile$ and did a console login from this IP $src_ip$ 72 90 80
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation Passing N/A N/A N/A
Unit Passing Dataset aws_cloudtrail aws:cloudtrail
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset aws_cloudtrail aws:cloudtrail

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range


Source: GitHub | Version: 3