AWS WAF Managed Bot Control Passthrough Rule

Severity: informational
Log types: AWS.WAFWebACL
Tags: AWS, WAF, Managed Rules, Bot Detection, Reconnaissance
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/developerguide/aws-managed-rule-groups-bot.html
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Detects AWS WAF Bot Control managed rule group matches. Covers automated browser detection, HTTP library user agents, scraping frameworks, known bot data centers, and targeted bot protections including token abuse and coordinated activity.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Reconnaissance	`T1595` Active Scanning

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: aws_waf_managed_bot_control.py
RuleID: "AWS.WAF.Managed.BotControl"
DisplayName: "AWS WAF Managed Bot Control Passthrough Rule"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - AWS.WAFWebACL
Tags:
  - AWS
  - WAF
  - Managed Rules
  - Bot Detection
  - Reconnaissance
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0043:T1595
Severity: Info
Description: >
  Detects AWS WAF Bot Control managed rule group matches. Covers automated browser detection,
  HTTP library user agents, scraping frameworks, known bot data centers, and targeted bot
  protections including token abuse and coordinated activity.
Runbook: |
  1. Find all requests from httpRequest:clientIp in the 24 hours before and after this alert to determine request volume and targeted URI patterns
  2. Check if the user agent string and httpRequest:clientIp are associated with legitimate bot services (search engines, monitoring) or known malicious automation
  3. Search for other WAF bot control alerts from the same httpRequest:clientIp or user agent in the past 7 days to identify persistent automated activity
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/developerguide/aws-managed-rule-groups-bot.html
Tests:
  - Name: Blocked bot via terminatingRuleId
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: "2024-03-20T10:30:00.000Z"
      webaclId: "arn:aws:wafv2:us-east-1:123456789012:regional/webacl/test/a1b2c3d4"
      terminatingRuleId: "AWS-AWSManagedRulesBotControlRuleSet"
      terminatingRuleType: "MANAGED_RULE_GROUP"
      action: "BLOCK"
      httpSourceName: "ALB"
      httpRequest:
        clientIp: "203.0.113.45"
        country: "US"
        uri: "/api/data"
        httpMethod: "GET"

  - Name: Scraping framework in ruleGroupList
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: "2024-03-20T10:35:00.000Z"
      webaclId: "arn:aws:wafv2:us-east-1:123456789012:regional/webacl/test/a1b2c3d4"
      terminatingRuleId: "AWS-AWSManagedRulesBotControlRuleSet"
      action: "BLOCK"
      httpSourceName: "CF"
      httpRequest:
        clientIp: "198.51.100.22"
        country: "DE"
        uri: "/products"
        httpMethod: "GET"
        headers:
          - name: "User-Agent"
            value: "Scrapy/2.7"
      ruleGroupList:
        - ruleGroupId: "AWS#AWSManagedRulesBotControlRuleSet"
          terminatingRule:
            ruleId: "CategoryScrapingFramework"
            action: "BLOCK"

  - Name: Non-terminating automated browser signal (COUNT mode)
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: "2024-03-20T10:40:00.000Z"
      webaclId: "arn:aws:wafv2:us-east-1:123456789012:regional/webacl/test/a1b2c3d4"
      terminatingRuleId: "Default_Action"
      action: "ALLOW"
      httpSourceName: "ALB"
      httpRequest:
        clientIp: "192.0.2.100"
        country: "US"
        uri: "/login"
        httpMethod: "POST"
      ruleGroupList:
        - ruleGroupId: "AWS#AWSManagedRulesBotControlRuleSet"
          nonTerminatingMatchingRules:
            - ruleId: "SignalAutomatedBrowser"
              action: "COUNT"

  - Name: Targeted token abuse detection
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: "2024-03-20T10:45:00.000Z"
      webaclId: "arn:aws:wafv2:us-east-1:123456789012:regional/webacl/test/a1b2c3d4"
      terminatingRuleId: "AWS-AWSManagedRulesBotControlRuleSet"
      action: "BLOCK"
      httpSourceName: "ALB"
      httpRequest:
        clientIp: "203.0.113.99"
        country: "BR"
        uri: "/checkout"
        httpMethod: "POST"
      ruleGroupList:
        - ruleGroupId: "AWS#AWSManagedRulesBotControlRuleSet"
          terminatingRule:
            ruleId: "TGT_TokenReuseIpHigh"
            action: "BLOCK"

  - Name: Different rule group - no alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      timestamp: "2024-03-20T10:50:00.000Z"
      webaclId: "arn:aws:wafv2:us-east-1:123456789012:regional/webacl/test/a1b2c3d4"
      terminatingRuleId: "AWS-AWSManagedRulesCommonRuleSet"
      action: "BLOCK"
      httpSourceName: "ALB"
      httpRequest:
        clientIp: "203.0.113.45"

  - Name: Normal traffic - no alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      timestamp: "2024-03-20T10:55:00.000Z"
      webaclId: "arn:aws:wafv2:us-east-1:123456789012:regional/webacl/test/a1b2c3d4"
      terminatingRuleId: "Default_Action"
      action: "ALLOW"
      httpSourceName: "ALB"
      httpRequest:
        clientIp: "198.51.100.10"

DedupPeriodMinutes: 60
Threshold: 1

Detection logic

Condition

nonTerminatingMatchingRules array_any or ruleGroupList array_any

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

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	Source
`matched_rule`	`terminatingRuleId`
`client_ip`	`httpRequest.clientIp`
`country`	`httpRequest.country`
`http_method`	`httpRequest.httpMethod`
`uri`	`httpRequest.uri`
`action`
`source`	`httpSourceName`
`source_id`	`httpSourceId`
`terminating_rule_id`	`terminatingRuleId`
`terminating_rule_type`	`terminatingRuleType`

`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)