CloudTrail Event Selectors Disabled

Severity: medium
Group by: requestParameters.trailName
Compliance: CIS 3.5; Stratus Red Team aws.defense-evasion.cloudtrail-event-selectors
Log types: AWS.CloudTrail
Tags: AWS, Security Control, Defense Evasion:Impair Defenses
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/cloudtrail-update-a-trail-console.html
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

A CloudTrail Trail was modified to exclude management events for 1 or more resource types.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1562` Impair Defenses

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: aws_cloudtrail_event_selectors_disabled.py
RuleID: "AWS.CloudTrail.EventSelectorsDisabled"
DisplayName: "CloudTrail Event Selectors Disabled"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - AWS.CloudTrail
Tags:
  - AWS
  - Security Control
  - Defense Evasion:Impair Defenses
Reports:
  CIS:
    - 3.5
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0005:T1562
  Stratus Red Team:
    - aws.defense-evasion.cloudtrail-event-selectors
Severity: Medium
Description: >
  A CloudTrail Trail was modified to exclude management events for 1 or more resource types.
Runbook: https://docs.runpanther.io/alert-runbooks/built-in-rules/aws-cloudtrail-modified
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/cloudtrail-update-a-trail-console.html
SummaryAttributes:
  - eventName
  - userAgent
  - sourceIpAddress
  - recipientAccountId
  - p_any_aws_arns
Tests:
  - Name: Event Selector Disabled
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log: {
      "p_event_time": "2024-11-25 17:51:21.000000000",
      "p_log_type": "AWS.CloudTrail",
      "p_parse_time": "2024-11-25 17:55:54.253083422",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "eventCategory": "Management",
      "eventID": "4ca1cb25-7633-496b-8f92-6de876228c3f",
      "eventName": "PutEventSelectors",
      "eventSource": "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com",
      "eventTime": "2024-11-25 17:51:21.000000000",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "eventVersion": "1.11",
      "managementEvent": true,
      "readOnly": false,
      "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
      "requestID": "a8c6184a-89b1-4fc1-a6fa-324748d48b64",
      "requestParameters": {
        "eventSelectors": [
          {
            "dataResources": [
              {
                "type": "AWS::S3::Object",
                "values": []
              },
              {
                "type": "AWS::Lambda::Function",
                "values": []
              }
            ],
            "excludeManagementEventSources": [],
            "includeManagementEvents": false,
            "readWriteType": "ReadOnly"
          }
        ],
        "trailName": "sample-cloudtrail-name"
      },
      "responseElements": {
        "eventSelectors": [
          {
            "dataResources": [
              {
                "type": "AWS::S3::Object",
                "values": []
              },
              {
                "type": "AWS::Lambda::Function",
                "values": []
              }
            ],
            "excludeManagementEventSources": [],
            "includeManagementEvents": false,
            "readWriteType": "ReadOnly"
          }
        ],
        "trailARN": "arn:aws:cloudtrail:us-west-2:111122223333:trail/sample-cloudtrail-name"
      },
      "sourceIPAddress": "1.2.3.4",
      "tlsDetails": {
        "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
        "clientProvidedHostHeader": "cloudtrail.us-west-2.amazonaws.com",
        "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3"
      },
      "userAgent": "sample-user-agent",
      "userIdentity": {
        "accessKeyId": "SAMPLE_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
        "accountId": "111122223333",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111122223333:assumed-role/SampleRole/leroy.jenkins",
        "principalId": "EXAMPLEPRINCIPLEID:leroy.jenkins",
        "sessionContext": {
          "attributes": {
            "creationDate": "2024-11-25T16:53:42Z",
            "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
          },
          "sessionIssuer": {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/aws-reserved/sso.amazonaws.com/us-west-2/SampleRole",
            "principalId": "EXAMPLEPRINCIPLEID",
            "type": "Role",
            "userName": "SampleRole"
          }
        },
        "type": "AssumedRole"
      }
    }
  - Name: Event Selector Enabled
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log: {
      "p_event_time": "2024-11-25 17:51:21.000000000",
      "p_log_type": "AWS.CloudTrail",
      "p_parse_time": "2024-11-25 17:55:54.253083422",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "eventCategory": "Management",
      "eventID": "4ca1cb25-7633-496b-8f92-6de876228c3f",
      "eventName": "PutEventSelectors",
      "eventSource": "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com",
      "eventTime": "2024-11-25 17:51:21.000000000",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "eventVersion": "1.11",
      "managementEvent": true,
      "readOnly": false,
      "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
      "requestID": "a8c6184a-89b1-4fc1-a6fa-324748d48b64",
      "requestParameters": {
        "eventSelectors": [
          {
            "dataResources": [],
            "excludeManagementEventSources": [],
            "includeManagementEvents": true,
            "readWriteType": "All"
          }
        ],
        "trailName": "sample-cloudtrail-name"
      },
      "responseElements": {
        "eventSelectors": [
          {
            "dataResources": [],
            "excludeManagementEventSources": [],
            "includeManagementEvents": true,
            "readWriteType": "All"
          }
        ],
        "trailARN": "arn:aws:cloudtrail:us-west-2:111122223333:trail/sample-cloudtrail-name"
      },
      "sourceIPAddress": "1.2.3.4",
      "tlsDetails": {
        "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
        "clientProvidedHostHeader": "cloudtrail.us-west-2.amazonaws.com",
        "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3"
      },
      "userAgent": "sample-user-agent",
      "userIdentity": {
        "accessKeyId": "SAMPLE_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
        "accountId": "111122223333",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111122223333:assumed-role/SampleRole/leroy.jenkins",
        "principalId": "EXAMPLEPRINCIPLEID:leroy.jenkins",
        "sessionContext": {
          "attributes": {
            "creationDate": "2024-11-25T16:53:42Z",
            "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
          },
          "sessionIssuer": {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/aws-reserved/sso.amazonaws.com/us-west-2/SampleRole",
            "principalId": "EXAMPLEPRINCIPLEID",
            "type": "Role",
            "userName": "SampleRole"
          }
        },
        "type": "AssumedRole"
      }
    }
  - Name: Uninteresting Event Type
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log: {
      "p_event_time": "2024-11-25 17:50:24.000000000",
      "p_log_type": "AWS.CloudTrail",
      "p_parse_time": "2024-11-25 17:55:54.172592534",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "eventCategory": "Management",
      "eventID": "63fb143a-c494-4510-8e9e-34172e4872c3",
      "eventName": "GetEventSelectors",
      "eventSource": "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com",
      "eventTime": "2024-11-25 17:50:24.000000000",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "eventVersion": "1.11",
      "managementEvent": true,
      "readOnly": true,
      "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
      "requestID": "cad6aff4-1558-49c5-ae4a-c512058751f1",
      "requestParameters": {
        "trailName": "sample-cloudtrail-name"
      },
      "sourceIPAddress": "1.2.3.4",
      "tlsDetails": {
        "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
        "clientProvidedHostHeader": "cloudtrail.us-west-2.amazonaws.com",
        "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3"
      },
      "userAgent": "APN/1.0 HashiCorp/1.0 Terraform/1.1.2 (+https://www.terraform.io) terraform-provider-aws/3.76.1 (+https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws) aws-sdk-go/1.44.157 (go1.19.3; darwin; arm64) stratus-red-team_83c9a458-ffab-4d43-8b02-9691311e8c0a HashiCorp-terraform-exec/0.17.3",
      "userIdentity": {
        "accessKeyId": "SAMPLE_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
        "accountId": "111122223333",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111122223333:assumed-role/SampleRole/leroy.jenkins",
        "principalId": "EXAMPLEPRINCIPLEID:leroy.jenkins",
        "sessionContext": {
          "attributes": {
            "creationDate": "2024-11-25T16:53:42Z",
            "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
          },
          "sessionIssuer": {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/aws-reserved/sso.amazonaws.com/us-west-2/SampleRole",
            "principalId": "EXAMPLEPRINCIPLEID",
            "type": "Role",
            "userName": "SampleRole"
          }
        },
        "type": "AssumedRole"
      }
    }

Detection logic

Condition

not (errorCode is_not_null or errorMessage is_not_null)
eventName in "PutEventSelectors"

This rule also runs imperative logic the parser cannot express as a filter; the conditions above are the structured part it could extract.

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`errorCode`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`errorMessage`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`eventName`	in	`PutEventSelectors`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field
`eventName`
`eventSource`
`awsRegion`
`recipientAccountId`
`sourceIPAddress`
`userAgent`
`userIdentity`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)