AWS Suspect Privilege Escalation
Detection overview
Triggers
- Credential was observed performing a set of unusual API requests that enumerate privileges, following which a modification of privileges was observed which may be indicative of a privilege escalation occurring within the environment.
Possible Root Causes
- An attacker has attempted to escalate privileges within the environment.
- An account misconfiguration has weakened IAM protections associated with resource authorizations.
- A security service, administrator, or other automation completed these actions as part of normal environment operation.
Business Impact
- Privilege escalation may indicate the presence of an adversary that is modifying permissions to progress towards an objective.
- IT misconfigurations may act to increase the risk of impact to assets, data, or services.
Steps to Verify
- Investigate the account context that made the change for other signs of malicious activity.
- Validate that the modifications are authorized, given the purpose and policies governing this resource.
- If review indicates possible malicious actions or high-risk configuration, revert configuration and disable credentials associated with this alert then perform a comprehensive investigation.
AWS Suspect Privilege Escalation
Possible root causes
Malicious Detection
Benign Detection
AWS Suspect Privilege Escalation
Example scenarios
AWS Suspect Privilege Escalation
Business impact
If this detection indicates a genuine threat, the organization faces significant risks:
AWS Suspect Privilege Escalation
Steps to investigate
AWS Suspect Privilege Escalation
Related detections
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