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AWS Lambda Function High-Frequency Invocation by a Single Principal

Identifies a single principal directly invoking AWS Lambda functions at a high volume within a one-hour window. Adversaries may drive excessive invocations to abuse functions for resource hijacking or cryptomining,…

Description

Identifies a single principal directly invoking AWS Lambda functions at a high volume within a one-hour window. Adversaries may drive excessive invocations to abuse functions for resource hijacking or cryptomining, to inflate costs in a denial-of-wallet attack, or to enumerate function behavior. This is a volumetric heuristic: the threshold is environment-dependent and high-throughput applications can exceed it, so tune it to the deployment. This rule relies on AWS Lambda data event logging, which is not enabled by default.

Detection logic

Its licence does not clear it for publishing here

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Detection requirements

Platform
ContainersIaaSLinuxmacOSSaaSWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.

Known benign triggers

  • Legitimate high-throughput applications, batch jobs, load tests, and automation can invoke functions at high volume and will exceed any fixed threshold. Validate the principal in `aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn` and the workload context, and tune the threshold to the environment.

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