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Description

The following analytic detects the resetting of the master user password for an Amazon RDS DB instance. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to identify events where the ModifyDBInstance API call includes a new masterUserPassword parameter. This activity is significant because unauthorized password resets can grant attackers access to sensitive data stored in production databases, such as credit card information, PII, and healthcare data. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to data breaches, regulatory non-compliance, and significant reputational damage. Immediate investigation is required to determine the legitimacy of the password reset.

  • Type: TTP

  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud

  • Last Updated: 2024-05-09
  • Author: Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk
  • ID: 6153c5ea-ed30-4878-81e6-21ecdb198189

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1586 Compromise Accounts Resource Development
T1586.003 Cloud Accounts Resource Development
T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Kill Chain Phase
  • Weaponization
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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`cloudtrail` eventSource="rds.amazonaws.com" eventName=ModifyDBInstance "requestParameters.masterUserPassword"=* 
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(requestParameters.dBInstanceIdentifier) as database_id by src awsRegion eventName userAgent user_arn
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `aws_credential_access_rds_password_reset_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: aws_credential_access_rds_password_reset_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Required fields

List of fields required to use this analytic.

  • _time
  • eventName
  • eventSource
  • requestParameters.dBInstanceIdentifier
  • userAgent
  • sourceIPAddress
  • awsRegion

How To Implement

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

Known False Positives

Users may genuinely reset the RDS password.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
49.0 70 70 $database_id$ password has been reset from IP $src$

:information_source: The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

Reference

Test Dataset

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 | version: 3