ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1098 | Account Manipulation | Persistence |
Detection: AWS IAM Failure Group Deletion
Description
The following analytic identifies failed attempts to delete AWS IAM groups. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to detect events where the DeleteGroup action fails due to errors like NoSuchEntityException, DeleteConflictException, or AccessDenied. This activity is significant as it may indicate unauthorized attempts to modify IAM group configurations, which could be a precursor to privilege escalation or other malicious actions. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to disrupt IAM policies, potentially leading to unauthorized access or denial of service within the AWS environment.
Search
1`cloudtrail` eventSource=iam.amazonaws.com eventName=DeleteGroup errorCode IN (NoSuchEntityException,DeleteConflictException, AccessDenied) (userAgent!=*.amazonaws.com)
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(requestParameters.groupName) as group_name by src eventName eventSource aws_account_id errorCode errorMessage userAgent eventID awsRegion userIdentity.principalId user_arn
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
5| `aws_iam_failure_group_deletion_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
AWS CloudTrail DeleteGroup | AWS | 'aws:cloudtrail' |
'aws_cloudtrail' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
cloudtrail | sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail |
aws_iam_failure_group_deletion_filter | search * |
aws_iam_failure_group_deletion_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
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 Risk Event | True |
Implementation
The Splunk AWS Add-on and Splunk App for AWS is required to utilize this data. The search requires AWS CloudTrail logs.
Known False Positives
This detection will require tuning to provide high fidelity detection capabilties. Tune based on src addresses (corporate offices, VPN terminations) or by groups of users. Not every user with AWS access should have permission to delete groups (least privilege).
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
User $user_arn$ has had mulitple failures while attempting to delete groups from $src$ | 5 | 10 | 50 |
References
-
https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iam/delete-group.html
-
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/APIReference/API_DeleteGroup.html
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