Attempt To Get Credentials For Identity

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

Returns credentials for the provided identity ID. Any provided logins will be validated against supported login providers.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Initial Access	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Persistence	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Privilege Escalation	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Stealth	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts

Telemetry coverage

Platform	Record / event type
AWS	CloudTrail event `GetCredentialsForIdentity`: Returns temporary AWS credentials for a Cognito identity (identity-pool credential vending).

Rules detecting the same action

These rules filter on the same operation.

Get Credentials For Identity (Sigma)

Rule body

title: Attempt To Get Credentials For Identity
id: 535c3745-3883-4cc8-a635-1a56cc3d6384
status: experimental
description: |
    Returns credentials for the provided identity ID. Any provided logins will be validated against supported login providers.
references:
    - https://hackingthe.cloud/aws/exploitation/cognito_identity_pool_excessive_privileges/#exploitation
    - https://traildiscover.cloud/#CognitoIdentity-GetCredentialsForIdentity
author: Zach Mathis (@yamatosecurity)
date: 2025-04-23
modified: 2025-04-23
tags:
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.t1078.004 # Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
logsource:
    product: aws
    service: cloudtrail
detection:
    selection:
        eventName: 'GetCredentialsForIdentity'
        errorCode: 'AccessDenied'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    eventName: 'GetCredentialsForIdentity'
    errorCode: 'AccessDenied'

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`errorCode`	eq	`AccessDenied`	`field:"aws::errorCode" kind:eq value:"AccessDenied"`
`eventName`	eq	`GetCredentialsForIdentity`	`field:"aws::eventName" kind:eq value:"GetCredentialsForIdentity"`