AWSCloudTrail - Config Service Resource Deletion Attempts

Status: available
Severity: low
Time window: 1d
Group by: AWSRegion, AccountName, AccountUPNSuffix, EventName, EventSource, EventTypeName, RecipientAccountId, SessionMfaAuthenticated, SourceIpAddress, UserAgent, UserIdentityAccountId, UserIdentityPrincipalid, UserIdentityUserName
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Identifies AWS API calls that attempt to reduce logging or visibility in an account by stopping logging, deleting trails, deleting flow logs, or deleting event buses. This behavior can indicate defense evasion or the deliberate suppression of telemetry used to monitor security posture.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Defense Impairment	`T1685.002` Disable or Modify Tools: Disable or Modify Cloud Log

Telemetry coverage

Platform	Record / event type
AWS	CloudTrail event `DeleteTrail`: Deletes a CloudTrail trail, permanently stopping the delivery of log files for that trail to its configured S3 bucket.
AWS	CloudTrail event `StopLogging`: Suspends CloudTrail logging for a trail, halting the delivery of new log files while preserving the trail configuration.
AWS	CloudTrail event `UpdateTrail`: Updates the settings of an existing CloudTrail trail, such as its S3 bucket, SNS topic, or log file validation configuration.
AWS	CloudTrail event `DeleteFlowLogs`: Deletes one or more VPC flow logs.
AWS	CloudTrail event `DeleteEventBus`: Deletes the specified custom event bus or partner event bus.

Rules detecting the same action

These rules filter on the same operation.

A CloudTrail Was Created or Updated (Panther)
Account Security Configuration Changed (Panther)
ASL AWS Defense Evasion Delete Cloudtrail (Splunk)
ASL AWS Defense Evasion Stop Logging Cloudtrail (Splunk)
ASL AWS Defense Evasion Update Cloudtrail (Splunk)
AWS Lateral Movement from Kubernetes SA via AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity (Elastic)
AWS VPC Flow Logs Deleted (Sigma)
AWS VPC Flow Logs Removed (Panther)

Rule body

id: 093fe75e-44f1-4d3e-94dc-6d258a6dd2d2
name: AWSCloudTrail - Config Service Resource Deletion Attempts
description: |
  Identifies AWS API calls that attempt to reduce logging or visibility in an account by stopping logging, deleting trails, deleting flow logs, or deleting event buses. This behavior can indicate defense evasion or the deliberate suppression of telemetry used to monitor security posture.
severity: Low
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AWS
    dataTypes:
      - AWSCloudTrail
  - connectorId: AWSS3
    dataTypes:
      - AWSCloudTrail
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - DefenseEvasion
relevantTechniques:
  - T1562.008
query: |
  let EventNameList = dynamic(["UpdateTrail","DeleteTrail","StopLogging","DeleteFlowLogs","DeleteEventBus"]);
  AWSCloudTrail
  | where EventName in~ (EventNameList)
  | extend UserIdentityArn = iif(isempty(UserIdentityArn), tostring(parse_json(Resources)[0].ARN), UserIdentityArn)
  | extend UserName = tostring(split(UserIdentityArn, '/')[-1])
  | extend AccountName = case( UserIdentityPrincipalid == "Anonymous", "Anonymous", isempty(UserIdentityUserName), UserName, UserIdentityUserName)
  | extend AccountName = iif(AccountName contains "@", tostring(split(AccountName, '@', 0)[0]), AccountName),
    AccountUPNSuffix = iif(AccountName contains "@", tostring(split(AccountName, '@', 1)[0]), "")
  | summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated) by EventName, EventTypeName, RecipientAccountId, AccountName, AccountUPNSuffix, UserIdentityAccountId, UserIdentityPrincipalid, UserAgent,
  UserIdentityUserName, SessionMfaAuthenticated, SourceIpAddress, AWSRegion, EventSource
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
      - identifier: CloudAppAccountId
        columnName: RecipientAccountId
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: SourceIpAddress
customDetails:
  EventName: EventName
  EventTypeName: EventTypeName
  AWSRegion: AWSRegion
  EventSource: EventSource
alertDetailsOverride:
  alertDisplayNameFormat: 'AWS Config Service Resource Deletion Attempts: {{EventName}} by {{AccountName}}'
  alertDescriptionFormat: 'Detected {{EventName}} in {{AWSRegion}} affecting account {{RecipientAccountId}}.'
version: 1.0.1
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let EventNameList = dynamic(["UpdateTrail","DeleteTrail","StopLogging","DeleteFlowLogs","DeleteEventBus"]);

Stage 1: `source`

AWSCloudTrail

Stage 2: `where`

| where EventName in~ (EventNameList)

Stage 3: `extend` (4 consecutive steps)

| extend UserIdentityArn = iif(isempty(UserIdentityArn), tostring(parse_json(Resources)[0].ARN), UserIdentityArn)
| extend UserName = tostring(split(UserIdentityArn, '/')[-1])
| extend AccountName = case( UserIdentityPrincipalid == "Anonymous", "Anonymous", isempty(UserIdentityUserName), UserName, UserIdentityUserName)
| extend AccountName = iif(AccountName contains "@", tostring(split(AccountName, '@', 0)[0]), AccountName),
  AccountUPNSuffix = iif(AccountName contains "@", tostring(split(AccountName, '@', 1)[0]), "")

Stage 4: `summarize`

| summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated) by EventName, EventTypeName, RecipientAccountId, AccountName, AccountUPNSuffix, UserIdentityAccountId, UserIdentityPrincipalid, UserAgent,
UserIdentityUserName, SessionMfaAuthenticated, SourceIpAddress, AWSRegion, EventSource

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`EventName`	in	`DeleteEventBus` `DeleteFlowLogs` `DeleteTrail` `StopLogging` `UpdateTrail`	`field:"aws::eventName" kind:in`

Output fields

These fields are emitted when the rule matches.

Field	Source
`AWSRegion`	`summarize`
`AccountName`	`summarize`
`AccountUPNSuffix`	`summarize`
`EndTimeUtc`	`summarize`
`EventName`	`summarize`
`EventSource`	`summarize`
`EventTypeName`	`summarize`
`RecipientAccountId`	`summarize`
`SessionMfaAuthenticated`	`summarize`
`SourceIpAddress`	`summarize`
`StartTimeUtc`	`summarize`
`UserAgent`	`summarize`
`UserIdentityAccountId`	`summarize`
`UserIdentityPrincipalid`	`summarize`
`UserIdentityUserName`	`summarize`