Detection rules › YARA-L

sap hanadb user admin actions

Severity
medium
Time window
30m
Match by
user
Author
Google Cloud Security
Source
github.com/chronicle/detection-rules

Detects administrative user management (Create/Alter/Drop) and schema deletion within SAP HANA DB.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Persistence

Rule body

// Copyright 2026 Google LLC. Licensed under Apache-2.0.

rule sap_hanadb_user_admin_actions {

  meta:
    author = "Google Cloud Security"
    description = "Detects administrative user management (Create/Alter/Drop) and schema deletion within SAP HANA DB."
    severity = "Medium"
    tactic = "TA0003"
    technique = "T1136"

  events:
    $e.metadata.log_type = "SAP_HANA_AUDIT"

    $statement = $e.additional.fields["executed_statement"]

    (
        $statement = /CREATE USER/ nocase or
        $statement = /ALTER USER/ nocase or
        $statement = /DROP USER/ nocase or
        $statement = /DROP SCHEMA/ nocase
    )

    $user = $e.principal.user.userid

  match:
    $user over 30m

  outcome:
    $risk_score = max(70)
    $principal_user = array_distinct($user)
    $target_user = array_distinct($e.target.user.userid)
    $executed_statements = array_distinct($statement)
    $system_id = array_distinct($e.target.resource.attribute.labels["system_id"])
    $db_name = array_distinct($e.target.resource.name)

  condition:
    $e
}

YARA-L rule structure

Condition

Fires when at least one $e event in the 30m window.

Events

$e

  • metadata.log_type = "SAP_HANA_AUDIT"
  • additional.fields["executed_statement"] matches "CREATE USER"
  • additional.fields["executed_statement"] matches "ALTER USER"
  • additional.fields["executed_statement"] matches "DROP USER"
  • additional.fields["executed_statement"] matches "DROP SCHEMA"

Match and correlation

Match key
$user
Within
30m

Outcome

Outcome variables add context to a detection. When the rule generates an alert, $risk_score is displayed with it.

FieldExpression
risk_scoremax(70)
principal_userarray_distinct($user)
target_userarray_distinct($e.target.user.userid)
executed_statementsarray_distinct($statement)
system_idarray_distinct($e.target.resource.attribute.labels["system_id"])
db_namearray_distinct($e.target.resource.name)