AWS RDS Snapshot Deleted

Last updated a month ago on 2025-11-24

Created 2 years ago on 2024-06-29

About

Identifies the deletion of an AWS RDS DB snapshot or configuration changes that effectively remove backup coverage for a DB instance. RDS snapshots contain full backups of database instances, and disabling automated backups by setting "backupRetentionPeriod=0" has a similar impact by preventing future restore points. Adversaries with the appropriate permissions may delete snapshots or disable backups to inhibit recovery, destroy forensic evidence, or prepare for follow-on destructive actions such as instance or cluster deletion.

Tags

Domain: CloudData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWS RDSUse Case: Asset VisibilityTactic: ImpactLanguage: eql

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Data Destruction (T1485)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

Snapshots may be deleted by a system administrator. Verify whether the user identity should be making changes in your environment. Snapshot deletions by unfamiliar users or hosts should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.

License

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

Definition

Rule Type: Event Correlation 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:
✄𐘗any where event.dataset == "aws.cloudtrail"
    and event.provider == "rds.amazonaws.com"
    and event.outcome == "success"
    and (
        event.action in ("DeleteDBSnapshot", "DeleteDBClusterSnapshot") or
        (event.action == "ModifyDBInstance" and stringContains(aws.cloudtrail.request_parameters, "backupRetentionPeriod=0"))
    )
    and not (
        user_agent.original == "backup.amazonaws.com" 
        and source.address == "backup.amazonaws.com"
    )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS RDS Snapshot Deleted 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).