AWS Service Quota Increase Requested by Rare Identity
Detects the first time an AWS identity requests a service quota increase via the AWS Service Quotas API within a 7-day history window. Service quota increases are submitted to AWS Support and, when approved, raise…
Description
Detects the first time an AWS identity requests a service quota increase via the AWS Service Quotas API within a 7-day history window. Service quota increases are submitted to AWS Support and, when approved, raise the limits on EC2 instances, Lambda concurrency, VPC resources, and other services. An adversary who obtains AWS credentials may request quota increases as infrastructure preparation for large-scale cryptomining, DDoS amplification, phishing campaigns, or data exfiltration operations that require compute or network resources beyond the account's current limits.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
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Detection requirements
- Platform
- PRE
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- Cloud infrastructure teams requesting quota increases for planned capacity expansions, new region deployments, or scaling events will trigger this rule. Validate the requested service and limit against your infrastructure roadmap before closing.
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 |
|---|---|
| docs.aws.amazon.com/servicequotas/2019-06-24/apireference/API_RequestServiceQuotaIncrease.html | Only this detection cites it |
| www.rapid7.com/blog/post/dr-threat-actors-aws-workmail-phishing-campaigns/ | 2 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 7e1b0654-b6c0-4b1b-ab47-75588533083c
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWSData Source: AWS CloudTrailDomain: CloudPlatform: AWSResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: New TermsService: AWS Service QuotasTactic: Resource Development
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 2