AWS Password Policy Complexity Guidelines

Severity: high
Compliance: CIS 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9; PCI 8.2.3
Tags: AWS, Identity & Access Management, Credential Access:Brute Force, Configuration Required
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

This policy validates that the account password policy enforces the recommended password complexity requirements.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Credential Access	`T1110` Brute Force

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: policy
Filename: aws_password_policy_complexity_guidelines.py
PolicyID: "AWS.PasswordPolicy.ComplexityGuidelines"
DisplayName: "AWS Password Policy Complexity Guidelines"
Enabled: true
ResourceTypes:
  - AWS.PasswordPolicy
Tags:
  - AWS
  - Identity & Access Management
  - Credential Access:Brute Force
  - Configuration Required
Reports:
  CIS:
    - 1.5
    - 1.6
    - 1.7
    - 1.8
    - 1.9
  PCI:
    - 8.2.3
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0006:T1110
Severity: High
Description: >
  This policy validates that the account password policy enforces the recommended password complexity requirements.
Runbook: >
  https://docs.runpanther.io/alert-runbooks/built-in-policies/aws-account-password-policy-enforces-complexity-guidelines
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html
Tests:
  - Name: Password Policy Does Not Require Lowercase Characters
    ExpectedResult: false
    Resource:
      {
        "AllowUsersToChangePassword": false,
        "AnyExist": true,
        "ExpirePasswords": true,
        "HardExpiry": false,
        "MaxPasswordAge": 90,
        "MinimumPasswordLength": 14,
        "PasswordReusePrevention": 24,
        "RequireLowercaseCharacters": false,
        "RequireNumbers": true,
        "RequireSymbols": true,
        "RequireUppercaseCharacters": true,
      }
  - Name: Password Policy Does Not Require Numbers
    ExpectedResult: false
    Resource:
      {
        "AllowUsersToChangePassword": false,
        "AnyExist": true,
        "ExpirePasswords": true,
        "HardExpiry": false,
        "MaxPasswordAge": 90,
        "MinimumPasswordLength": 14,
        "PasswordReusePrevention": 24,
        "RequireLowercaseCharacters": true,
        "RequireNumbers": false,
        "RequireSymbols": true,
        "RequireUppercaseCharacters": true,
      }
  - Name: Password Policy Does Not Require Symbols
    ExpectedResult: false
    Resource:
      {
        "AllowUsersToChangePassword": false,
        "AnyExist": true,
        "ExpirePasswords": true,
        "HardExpiry": false,
        "MaxPasswordAge": 90,
        "MinimumPasswordLength": 14,
        "PasswordReusePrevention": 24,
        "RequireLowercaseCharacters": true,
        "RequireNumbers": true,
        "RequireSymbols": false,
        "RequireUppercaseCharacters": true,
      }
  - Name: Password Policy Does Not Require Uppercase Characters
    ExpectedResult: false
    Resource:
      {
        "AllowUsersToChangePassword": false,
        "AnyExist": true,
        "ExpirePasswords": true,
        "HardExpiry": false,
        "MaxPasswordAge": 90,
        "MinimumPasswordLength": 14,
        "PasswordReusePrevention": 24,
        "RequireLowercaseCharacters": true,
        "RequireNumbers": true,
        "RequireSymbols": true,
        "RequireUppercaseCharacters": false,
      }
  - Name: Password Policy Enforces Insufficient Password Length
    ExpectedResult: false
    Resource:
      {
        "AllowUsersToChangePassword": false,
        "AnyExist": true,
        "ExpirePasswords": true,
        "HardExpiry": false,
        "MaxPasswordAge": 90,
        "MinimumPasswordLength": 8,
        "PasswordReusePrevention": 24,
        "RequireLowercaseCharacters": true,
        "RequireNumbers": true,
        "RequireSymbols": true,
        "RequireUppercaseCharacters": true,
      }
  - Name: Password Policy Meets All Complexity Requirements
    ExpectedResult: true
    Resource:
      {
        "AllowUsersToChangePassword": false,
        "AnyExist": true,
        "ExpirePasswords": true,
        "HardExpiry": false,
        "MaxPasswordAge": 90,
        "MinimumPasswordLength": 14,
        "PasswordReusePrevention": 24,
        "RequireLowercaseCharacters": true,
        "RequireNumbers": true,
        "RequireSymbols": true,
        "RequireUppercaseCharacters": true,
      }

Detection logic

Condition

not (RequireUppercaseCharacters not is_null and RequireLowercaseCharacters not is_null and RequireSymbols not is_null and RequireNumbers not is_null and  not not)

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
`MinimumPasswordLength`	ge	`14`
`MinimumPasswordLength`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireLowercaseCharacters`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireNumbers`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireSymbols`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireUppercaseCharacters`	is_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
`RequireLowercaseCharacters`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireNumbers`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireSymbols`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`RequireUppercaseCharacters`	is_null	(no value, null check)

`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)