AWS EC2 EBS Snapshot Access Removed

Last updated a month ago on 2025-07-16
Created a year ago on 2024-06-02

About

Identifies the removal of access permissions from a shared AWS EC2 EBS snapshot. EBS snapshots are essential for data retention and disaster recovery. Adversaries may revoke or modify snapshot permissions to prevent legitimate users from accessing backups, thereby obstructing recovery efforts after data loss or destructive actions. This tactic can also be used to evade detection or maintain exclusive access to critical backups, ultimately increasing the impact of an attack and complicating incident response.
Tags
Domain: CloudData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWS EC2Use Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ImpactLanguage: esql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Impact (TA0040)(opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Access removal may be a part of normal operations and should be verified before taking action.
License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Related Integrations

aws(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
from logs-aws.cloudtrail-* metadata _id, _version, _index

// Filter for successful snapshot modifications
| where
  event.provider == "ec2.amazonaws.com"
  and event.action == "ModifySnapshotAttribute"
  and event.outcome == "success"

// dissect parameters to extract key fields
| dissect aws.cloudtrail.request_parameters
    "{%{?snapshotId}=%{Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_snapshot_id},%{?attributeType}=%{Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_attribute_type},%{?createVolumePermission}={%{Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_operation_type}={%{?items}=[{%{?userId}=%{Esql_priv.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_user_id}}]}}}"

// Match on snapshot permission **removal**
| where Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_operation_type == "remove"

// keep ECS and derived fields
| keep
  @timestamp,
  aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn,
  cloud.account.id,
  event.action,
  Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_snapshot_id,
  Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_attribute_type,
  Esql.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_operation_type,
  Esql_priv.aws_cloudtrail_request_parameters_user_id,
  source.address

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS EC2 EBS Snapshot Access Removed 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(opens in a new tab or window).