Detect New Open S3 buckets
The following analytic identifies the creation of open/public S3 buckets in AWS. It detects this activity by analyzing AWS CloudTrail events for `PutBucketAcl` actions where the access control list (ACL) grants…
Description
The following analytic identifies the creation of open/public S3 buckets in AWS. It detects this activity by analyzing AWS CloudTrail events for `PutBucketAcl` actions where the access control list (ACL) grants permissions to all users or authenticated users. This activity is significant because open S3 buckets can expose sensitive data to unauthorized access, leading to data breaches. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could read, write, or fully control the contents of the bucket, potentially leading to data exfiltration or tampering.
Detection logic
Detection requirements
- Platform
- IaaSOffice SuiteSaaS
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- aws_cloudtrail
Known benign triggers
- While this search has no known false positives, it is possible that an AWS admin has legitimately created a public bucket for a specific purpose. That said, AWS strongly advises against granting full control to the "All Users" group.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
No references are available for this detection.
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 2a9b80d3-6340-4345-b5ad-290bf3d0dac4
- Tagged by the source as
- Suspicious AWS S3 ActivitiesS3 BucketcloudSplunk CloudSplunk EnterpriseSplunk Enterprise Securitythreat
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