Elastic Security Detection Rules

AWS RDS DB Instance or Cluster Password Modified

Last updated 7 months ago on 2025-01-10
Created a year ago on 2024-06-27

About

Identifies the modification of the master password for an AWS RDS DB instance or cluster. DB instances may contain sensitive data that can be abused if accessed by unauthorized actors. Amazon RDS API operations never return the password, so this operation provides a means to regain access if the password is lost. Adversaries with the proper permissions can take advantage of this to evade defenses and gain unauthorized access to a DB instance or cluster to support persistence mechanisms or privilege escalation.
Tags
Domain: CloudData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWS RDSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Privilege EscalationTactic: Defense EvasionLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Account Manipulation (T1098)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Master password change is a legitimate means to regain access to a DB instance in the case of a lost password. Ensure that the instance should not be modified in this way before taking action.
License
Elastic License v2(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(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
any where event.dataset == "aws.cloudtrail"
    and event.provider == "rds.amazonaws.com"
    and event.action in ("ModifyDBInstance", "ModifyDBCluster")
    and event.outcome == "success"
    and stringContains(aws.cloudtrail.request_parameters, "masterUserPassword=*")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS RDS DB Instance or Cluster Password Modified 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).