AWS CreateLoginProfile

name: AWS CreateLoginProfile
id: 2a9b80d3-6340-4345-11ad-212bf444d111
version: 10
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies the creation of a login profile for one AWS user by another, followed by a console login from the same source IP. It uses AWS CloudTrail logs to correlate the `CreateLoginProfile` and `ConsoleLogin` events based on the source IP and user identity. This activity is significant as it may indicate privilege escalation, where an attacker creates a new login profile to gain unauthorized access. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to escalate privileges and maintain persistent access to the AWS environment.
data_source:
    - AWS CloudTrail CreateLoginProfile AND AWS CloudTrail ConsoleLogin
search: |-
    `cloudtrail` eventName = CreateLoginProfile
      | rename requestParameters.userName as new_login_profile
      | table src_ip eventName new_login_profile userIdentity.userName
      | join new_login_profile src_ip [
      | search `cloudtrail` eventName = ConsoleLogin
      | rename userIdentity.userName  as new_login_profile
      | stats count values(eventName) min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY eventSource aws_account_id errorCode
           user_agent eventID awsRegion
           userIdentity.principalId user_arn new_login_profile
           src_ip dest vendor_account
           vendor_region vendor_product
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`]
      | rename user_arn as user
      | `aws_createloginprofile_filter`
how_to_implement: You must install splunk AWS add on and Splunk App for AWS. This search works with AWS CloudTrail logs.
known_false_positives: While this search has no known false positives, it is possible that an AWS admin has legitimately created a login profile for another user.
references:
    - https://bishopfox.com/blog/privilege-escalation-in-aws
    - https://rhinosecuritylabs.com/aws/aws-privilege-escalation-methods-mitigation-part-2/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") starthoursago=168  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: User $user$ is attempting to create a login profile for $new_login_profile$ and did a console login from this IP $src_ip$
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: src_ip
          type: ip_address
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - AWS IAM Privilege Escalation
    asset_type: AWS Account
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1136.003
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: network
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1078/aws_createloginprofile/aws_cloudtrail_events.json
          sourcetype: aws:cloudtrail
          source: aws_cloudtrail