IAM Access Key Creation Attempt

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: product aws, service cloudtrail
Author: nishikawaakira (@nishikawaakira)
Source: github.com/Yamato-Security/suzaku-rules

Detects a failed attempt to create an IAM access key (AccessDenied). Even though the attempt failed, it indicates the attacker has valid credentials and is attempting persistence via access key creation.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1098.001` Account Manipulation: Additional Cloud Credentials

Event coverage

Provider	Event
AWS-iam	CreateAccessKey

Rules detecting the same action

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

AWS IAM Backdoor Users Keys (Sigma)
AWS IAM S3Browser User or AccessKey Creation (Sigma)
AWS IAM Sensitive Operations via Lambda Execution Role (Elastic)
AWS IAM User Created Access Keys For Another User (Elastic)
AWS Sensitive IAM Operations Performed via CloudShell (Elastic)
AWS User API Key Created (Panther)
High-Risk Cross-Cloud User Impersonation (Kusto)
IAM Access Key Created (Sigma)

Rule body yaml

title: IAM Access Key Creation Attempt
id: 2c4d6e8f-0a1b-3c5d-7e9f-1a2b3c4d5e70
status: test
description: |
    Detects a failed attempt to create an IAM access key (AccessDenied).
    Even though the attempt failed, it indicates the attacker has valid
    credentials and is attempting persistence via access key creation.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/001/
    - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/APIReference/API_CreateAccessKey.html
author: nishikawaakira (@nishikawaakira)
date: 2026-05-03
modified: 2026-05-29
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.t1098.001
logsource:
    product: aws
    service: cloudtrail
detection:
    selection:
        eventSource: iam.amazonaws.com
        eventName: CreateAccessKey
        errorCode: AccessDenied
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    eventSource: iam.amazonaws.com
    eventName: CreateAccessKey
    errorCode: 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`
`eventName`	eq	`CreateAccessKey`
`eventSource`	eq	`iam.amazonaws.com`

`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)

IAM Access Key Creation Attempt

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

IAM Access Key Creation Attempt

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`