AWS S3 Bucket Configuration Deletion
Identifies the deletion of critical Amazon S3 bucket configurations such as bucket policies, lifecycle configurations or encryption settings. These actions are typically administrative but may also represent…
Description
Identifies the deletion of critical Amazon S3 bucket configurations such as bucket policies, lifecycle configurations or encryption settings. These actions are typically administrative but may also represent adversarial attempts to remove security controls, disable data retention mechanisms, or conceal evidence of malicious activity. Adversaries who gain access to AWS credentials may delete logging, lifecycle, or policy configurations to disrupt forensic visibility and inhibit recovery. For example, deleting a bucket policy can open a bucket to public access or remove protective access restrictions, while deleting lifecycle rules can prevent object archival or automatic backups. Such actions often precede data exfiltration or destructive operations and should be reviewed in context with related S3 or IAM events.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
Sunturai publishes a detection's own text where the licence it arrived under has been reviewed and permits it, and Elastic License 2.0 has not. The query as its source wrote it, its canonical form and the hash that pins this revision are in the workspace record.
Detection requirements
- Platform
- ContainersESXiIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 3 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- Bucket configurations may be deleted by a system or network administrator. Verify whether the user identity, user agent, and/or hostname should be making changes in your environment. Bucket configuration deletions by unfamiliar users or hosts should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/API_DeleteBucketCors.html | Only this detection cites it |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/API_DeleteBucketEncryption.html | Only this detection cites it |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/API_DeleteBucketLifecycle.html | Only this detection cites it |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/API_DeleteBucketPolicy.html | Only this detection cites it |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/API_DeleteBucketReplication.html | Only this detection cites it |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 227dc608-e558-43d9-b521-150772250bae
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWSData Source: AWS CloudTrailDomain: CloudNoise: MediumPerformance: NormalPlatform: AWSResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Custom Query (KQL)Service: AWS S3Tactic: Defense EvasionTactic: ImpactThreat: Ransomware
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3