AWS IAM Login Profile Created or Modified for an IAM User

Last updated 2 months ago on 2026-06-18

Created 2 months ago on 2026-06-18

About

Identifies creation or modification of a console login profile for an AWS IAM user via CreateLoginProfile or UpdateLoginProfile. A login profile enables password-based console sign-in for an IAM user. Adversaries who obtain programmatic credentials may create a login profile to add persistent interactive console access, or update an existing profile to reset another user's password and take over the account, even after the original access keys are rotated. Because console access for IAM users is increasingly provisioned through federation or IAM Identity Center, direct use of these APIs by an unexpected principal warrants review. This rule targets IAM users (the userName parameter is present); creation of a login profile for the account root user is covered by a separate rule.

Tags

Domain: CloudDomain: IdentityData 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)

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

False Positive Examples

Administrators and identity teams may legitimately create or reset console login profiles during user onboarding, password resets, or break-glass procedures. Verify the principal in "aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn", the target user in "aws.cloudtrail.request_parameters", and whether the change aligns with an approved request. Known administration roles and provisioning automation can be excluded after validation.

License

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

Definition

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

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗data_stream.dataset: "aws.cloudtrail"
    and event.provider: "iam.amazonaws.com"
    and event.action: ("CreateLoginProfile" or "UpdateLoginProfile")
    and event.outcome: "success"
    and not aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.type: "AWSService"
    and not user_agent.original: (*terraform* or *pulumi* or *ansible*)
    and not aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn: (*terraform* or *pulumi* or *ansible*)
    and not source.as.organization.name: (Amazon* or AMAZON* or Google*)
    and not source.address: ("cloudformation.amazonaws.com" or "servicecatalog.amazonaws.com")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS IAM Login Profile Created or Modified for an IAM 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).