AWS SageMaker Execution Role Passed by Unusual Principal

Description

Identifies the first time an IAM principal passes a given execution role (`roleArn`) to an Amazon SageMaker resource, via `CreateNotebookInstance`, `CreateTrainingJob`, `CreateProcessingJob`, `CreateAutoMLJob`, or `CreatePipeline`. These actions require `iam:PassRole` and attach an IAM role that the created resource then runs as. An adversary holding both SageMaker create permissions and a broad `iam:PassRole` grant can pass a more privileged role to a resource they control and execute code as that role, escalating privileges. The rule keys on the combination of the calling principal and the passed `roleArn`, so it surfaces a principal using an execution role it has not used before in the last 7 days; a role whose account differs from the caller's, or that is more privileged than the caller, is especially suspicious.

Detection logic

Its licence does not clear it for publishing here

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Detection requirements

Platform: Containers ESXi IaaS Identity Provider Linux macOS Network Devices Office Suite SaaS Windows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.

Known benign triggers

MLOps pipelines and data science teams routinely create SageMaker resources with execution roles, and new pipelines or team members appear as new principals on first use. Verify the principal in `aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn`, the passed roleArn in `aws.cloudtrail.request_parameters`, and whether the role's privileges and the activity are approved. Known automation roles can be excluded after validation.

References

Links the source published beside this detection. Reference is the link the source wrote, unmodified. Class is decided by this catalogue from the host and path, not stated by the source. Cited by counts published detections citing the same resource, including this one, and the sources beneath it count the repositories this catalogue ingests, which is not the same as independent research.
Reference	Class	Cited by
docs.aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/latest/APIReference/API_CreateNotebookInstance.html	Product documentation	Only this detection cites it
docs.aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/latest/dg/sagemaker-roles.html	Product documentation	Only this detection cites it
stratus-red-team.cloud/attack-techniques/AWS/aws.execution.sagemaker-update-lifecycle-config/	Unclassified	Only this detection cites it

Detection rules

AWS SageMaker Execution Role Passed by Unusual Principal

Description

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Known benign triggers

MITRE ATT&CK mappings

References

From the source

Licence

Authorship

Detection rules