Detect Reconnaissance from IAM Users

Severity: informational
Group by: userIdentity.arn
Log types: AWS.CloudTrail
Tags: AWS, Discovery:Cloud Service Discovery
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/troubleshoot_access-denied.html
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

An IAM user has a high volume of access denied API calls.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Discovery	`T1526` Cloud Service Discovery

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: aws_iam_user_recon_denied.py
RuleID: "AWS.IAMUser.ReconAccessDenied"
DisplayName: "Detect Reconnaissance from IAM Users"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - AWS.CloudTrail
Tags:
  - AWS
  - Discovery:Cloud Service Discovery
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0007:T1526
Severity: Info
Threshold: 15
DedupPeriodMinutes: 10
Description: An IAM user has a high volume of access denied API calls.
Runbook: Analyze the IP they came from, and other actions taken before/after.
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/troubleshoot_access-denied.html
SummaryAttributes:
  - eventName
  - userAgent
  - sourceIpAddress
  - recipientAccountId
  - errorMessage
  - p_any_aws_arns
Tests:
  - Name: Unauthorized API Call
    LogType: AWS.CloudTrail
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "eventVersion": "1.05",
        "userIdentity":
          {
            "type": "IAMUser",
            "principalId": "1111",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester",
            "accountId": "123456789012",
            "accessKeyId": "1",
            "userName": "tester",
            "sessionContext":
              {
                "attributes":
                  {
                    "mfaAuthenticated": "true",
                    "creationDate": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
                  },
              },
            "invokedBy": "signin.amazonaws.com",
          },
        "eventTime": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "eventSource": "iam.amazonaws.com",
        "eventName": "GetRole",
        "awsRegion": "us-east-1",
        "sourceIPAddress": "40.185.186.6",
        "errorCode": "AccessDenied",
        "errorMessage": "User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester is not authorized to perform: iam:GetRole on resource: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/FooBar",
        "userAgent": "aws-sdk-go/1.32.7 (go1.14.6; linux; amd64) exec-env/AWS_Lambda_go1.x",
        "requestParameters": null,
        "responseElements": null,
        "requestID": "1",
        "eventID": "1",
        "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
        "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
      }
  - Name: Unauthorized API Call from Within AWS (FQDN)
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "eventVersion": "1.05",
        "userIdentity":
          {
            "type": "IAMUser",
            "principalId": "1111",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester",
            "accountId": "123456789012",
            "accessKeyId": "1",
            "userName": "tester",
            "sessionContext":
              {
                "attributes":
                  {
                    "mfaAuthenticated": "true",
                    "creationDate": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
                  },
              },
            "invokedBy": "signin.amazonaws.com",
          },
        "eventTime": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "eventSource": "iam.amazonaws.com",
        "eventName": "CreateServiceLinkedRole",
        "awsRegion": "us-east-1",
        "sourceIPAddress": "sqs.amazonaws.com",
        "errorCode": "AccessDenied",
        "errorMessage": "User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester is not authorized to perform: iam:Action on resource: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:resource",
        "userAgent": "sqs.amazonaws.com",
        "requestParameters": null,
        "responseElements": null,
        "requestID": "1",
        "eventID": "1",
        "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
        "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
      }
  - Name: Authorized API Call
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "eventVersion": "1.05",
        "userIdentity":
          {
            "type": "IAMUser",
            "principalId": "1111",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester",
            "accountId": "123456789012",
            "accessKeyId": "1",
            "userName": "tester",
            "sessionContext":
              {
                "attributes":
                  {
                    "mfaAuthenticated": "true",
                    "creationDate": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
                  },
              },
            "invokedBy": "signin.amazonaws.com",
          },
        "eventTime": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "eventSource": "iam.amazonaws.com",
        "eventName": "CreateServiceLinkedRole",
        "awsRegion": "us-east-1",
        "sourceIPAddress": "111.111.111.111",
        "userAgent": "signin.amazonaws.com",
        "requestParameters": null,
        "responseElements": null,
        "requestID": "1",
        "eventID": "1",
        "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
        "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
      }
  - Name: Unauthorized API Call - From AWS console
    LogType: AWS.CloudTrail
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "eventVersion": "1.05",
        "userIdentity":
          {
            "type": "IAMUser",
            "principalId": "1111",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester",
            "accountId": "123456789012",
            "accessKeyId": "1",
            "userName": "tester",
            "sessionContext":
              {
                "attributes":
                  {
                    "mfaAuthenticated": "true",
                    "creationDate": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
                  },
              },
            "invokedBy": "signin.amazonaws.com",
          },
        "eventTime": "2019-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "eventSource": "iam.amazonaws.com",
        "eventName": "GetRole",
        "awsRegion": "us-east-1",
        "sourceIPAddress": "40.185.186.6",
        "errorCode": "AccessDenied",
        "errorMessage": "User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/tester is not authorized to perform: iam:GetRole on resource: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/FooBar",
        "userAgent": "aws-internal/3 aws-sdk-java/1.12.124 Linux/4.9.273-0.1.ac.226.84.332.metal1.x86_64 OpenJDK_64-Bit_Server_VM/25.312-b07 java/1.8.0_312 vendor/Oracle_Corporation cfg/retry-mode/standard",
        "requestParameters": null,
        "responseElements": null,
        "requestID": "1",
        "eventID": "1",
        "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
        "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
      }

Detection logic

Condition

errorCode eq "AccessDenied"
userIdentity.type eq "IAMUser"
userAgent not starts_with "aws-internal/3"

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
`userAgent`	starts_with	`aws-internal/3`

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
`errorCode`	eq	`AccessDenied`
`userIdentity.type`	eq	`IAMUser`

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)