AWS RDS DB Instance Made Public
Identifies the creation or modification of an Amazon RDS DB instance or cluster where the "publiclyAccessible" attribute is set to "true". Publicly accessible RDS instances expose a network endpoint on the public…
Description
Identifies the creation or modification of an Amazon RDS DB instance or cluster where the "publiclyAccessible" attribute is set to "true". Publicly accessible RDS instances expose a network endpoint on the public internet, which may allow unauthorized access if combined with overly permissive security groups, weak authentication, or misconfigured IAM policies. Adversaries may enable public access on an existing instance, or create a new publicly accessible instance, to establish persistence, move data outside of controlled network boundaries, or bypass internal access controls.
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
- ContainersIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 2 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- Public access is a common configuration used to enable access from outside a private VPC. Ensure that the instance should not be modified in this way before taking action.
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 |
|---|---|
| cloud.hacktricks.xyz/pentesting-cloud/aws-security/aws-persistence/aws-rds-persistence#make-instance-publicly-accessible-rds-modifydbinstance | Only this detection cites it |
| cloud.hacktricks.xyz/pentesting-cloud/aws-security/aws-privilege-escalation/aws-rds-privesc#rds-createdbinstance | 3from 2 sources |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/APIReference/API_ModifyDBInstance.html | 3 |
| docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Overview.DBInstance.Modifying.html | 2 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 9efb3f79-b77b-466a-9fa0-3645d22d1e7f
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWSData Source: AWS CloudTrailDomain: CloudNoise: LowPerformance: NormalPlatform: AWSResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Event Correlation (EQL)Service: AWS RDSTactic: Defense EvasionTactic: Persistence
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3