ASL AWS IAM AccessDenied Discovery Events
The following analytic identifies excessive AccessDenied events within an hour timeframe for IAM users in AWS. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to detect multiple failed access attempts from the same source IP and…
Description
The following analytic identifies excessive AccessDenied events within an hour timeframe for IAM users in AWS. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to detect multiple failed access attempts from the same source IP and user identity. This activity is significant as it may indicate that an access key has been compromised and is being misused for unauthorized discovery actions. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to gather information about the AWS environment, potentially leading to further exploitation or privilege escalation.
Detection logic
Detection requirements
- Platform
- IaaS
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- asl_aws_cloudtrail
Known benign triggers
- It is possible to start this detection will need to be tuned by source IP or user. In addition, change the count values to an upper threshold to restrict false positives.
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 |
|---|---|
| aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/troubleshoot-iam-permission-errors/ | 2 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- a4f39755-b1e2-40bb-b2dc-4449c45b0bf2
- Tagged by the source as
- Suspicious Cloud User ActivitiesAWS AccountcloudSplunk CloudSplunk EnterpriseSplunk Enterprise Securityaccess
Licence
- Published under
- Apache License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
- Obtained under
- Apache-2.0Read the origin licence
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Aug 26, 2026
- Version
- 1