AWS IAM OIDC Provider Created by Rare User

Last updated 20 days ago on 2026-02-05

Created 20 days ago on 2026-02-05

About

Detects when an uncommon user or role creates an OpenID Connect (OIDC) Identity Provider in AWS IAM. OIDC providers enable web identity federation, allowing users authenticated by external identity providers (such as Google, GitHub, or custom OIDC-compliant providers) to assume IAM roles and access AWS resources. Adversaries who have gained administrative access may create rogue OIDC providers to establish persistent, federated access that survives credential rotation. This technique allows attackers to assume roles using tokens from an IdP they control. While OIDC provider creation is benign in some environments, it should still be validated against authorized infrastructure changes.

Tags

Domain: CloudData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWS IAMUse Case: Identity and Access AuditTactic: PersistenceLanguage: kuery

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Valid Accounts (T1078)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Domain or Tenant Policy Modification (T1484)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

OIDC providers may be created during legitimate CI/CD integration (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), Kubernetes service account federation, or other web identity use cases. Verify whether the user identity and timing align with approved change management processes. If this is expected administrative activity, it can be exempted from the rule.

License

Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type: New Terms Rule
Integration Pack: Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns: filebeat-*logs-aws.cloudtrail-*
Related Integrations: aws(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗event.dataset: "aws.cloudtrail"
    and event.provider: "iam.amazonaws.com"
    and event.action: "CreateOpenIDConnectProvider"
    and event.outcome: "success"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS IAM OIDC Provider Created by Rare User in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).