AWS IAM Group Creation
Identifies the creation of a group in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Groups specify permissions for multiple users. Any user in a group automatically has the permissions that are assigned to the group.…
Description
Identifies the creation of a group in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Groups specify permissions for multiple users. Any user in a group automatically has the permissions that are assigned to the group. Adversaries who obtain credentials with IAM write privileges may create a new group as a foothold for persistence: they can later attach admin-level policies to the group and quietly add users or roles to inherit those privileges.
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 ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- A group may be created by a system or network administrator. Verify whether the user identity, user agent, and/or hostname should be making changes in your environment. Group creations 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 |
|---|---|
| awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iam/create-group.html | Only this detection cites it |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/APIReference/API_CreateGroup.html | Only this detection cites it |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 169f3a93-efc7-4df2-94d6-0d9438c310d1
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWSData Source: AWS CloudTrailData Source: AWS IAMDomain: CloudNoise: LowPerformance: NormalPlatform: AWSResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Custom Query (KQL)Service: AWS IAMTactic: PersistenceUse Case: Identity and Access Audit
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3