EC2 Secrets Manager Retrieve Secrets

Status: Experimental
Severity: informational
Log types: AWS.CloudTrail
Tags: AWS, Credential Access, Stratus Red Team
Reference: https://stratus-red-team.cloud/attack-techniques/AWS/aws.credential-access.secretsmanager-retrieve-secrets/
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

An attacker attempted to retrieve a high number of Secrets Manager secrets, through secretsmanager:GetSecretValue.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Credential Access	`T1552` Unsecured Credentials

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

AWS Lateral Movement from Kubernetes SA via AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity (Elastic)
Multiple Cloud Secrets Accessed by Source Address (Elastic)

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: aws_secretsmanager_retrieve_secrets.py
RuleID: "AWS.SecretsManager.RetrieveSecrets"
DisplayName: "EC2 Secrets Manager Retrieve Secrets"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - AWS.CloudTrail
Tags:
  - AWS
  - Credential Access
  - Stratus Red Team
Status: Experimental
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0006:T1552 # Credentials from Password Stores 
Severity: Info
Description: An attacker attempted to retrieve a high number of Secrets Manager secrets, through secretsmanager:GetSecretValue.
Runbook: https://permiso.io/blog/lucr-3-scattered-spider-getting-saas-y-in-the-cloud
Reference: https://stratus-red-team.cloud/attack-techniques/AWS/aws.credential-access.secretsmanager-retrieve-secrets/
Threshold: 20
DedupPeriodMinutes: 1440
SummaryAttributes:
  - eventName
  - userAgent
  - sourceIpAddress
  - recipientAccountId
  - p_any_aws_arns
Tests:
  - Name: GetSecretValue Denied
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log: {
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "eventCategory": "Management",
      "eventID": "dfd6d93a-2ce6-4dbe-8939-86b8ba67c868",
      "eventName": "GetSecretValue",
      "errorCode": "AccessDenied",
      "eventSource": "secretsmanager.amazonaws.com",
      "eventTime": "2024-10-17 21:48:45.000000000",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "eventVersion": "1.09",
      "managementEvent": true,
      "readOnly": true,
      "recipientAccountId": "123123123123",
      "requestID": "5128b35f-0daf-4c5e-948a-21a1c507968c",
      "requestParameters": {
        "secretId": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:us-west-2:123123123123:secret:stratus-red-team-retrieve-secret-3-gscOm8",
        "versionId": "7DC59E8B-63AE-454D-B7A4-8A7D64AB05E7"
      },
      "sourceIPAddress": "123.123.123.123",
      "tlsDetails": {
        "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
        "clientProvidedHostHeader": "secretsmanager.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) HashiCorp-terraform-exec/0.17.3",
      "userIdentity": {
        "accessKeyId": "ASIASXP6SDP2LKLKYYC4",
        "accountId": "123123123123",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::123123123123:assumed-role/AWSReservedSSO_DevAdmin_635426549a280cc6/evil.genius",
        "principalId": "AROASXP6SDP2F4WLQVARB:evil.genius",
        "sessionContext": {
          "attributes": {
            "creationDate": "2024-10-17T21:48:13Z",
            "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
          },
          "sessionIssuer": {
            "accountId": "123123123123",
            "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123123123123:role/aws-reserved/sso.amazonaws.com/us-west-2/AWSReservedSSO_DevAdmin_635426549a280cc6",
            "principalId": "AROASXP6SDP2F4WLQVARB",
            "type": "Role",
            "userName": "AWSReservedSSO_DevAdmin_635426549a280cc6"
          }
        },
        "type": "AssumedRole"
      }
    }

Detection logic

Condition

eventName eq "GetSecretValue"
errorCode is_not_null or errorMessage is_not_null
errorCode eq "AccessDenied"

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`
`errorCode`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`errorMessage`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`eventName`	eq	`GetSecretValue`

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
`actor_user`

`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)