splunk_escuTTP

AWS UpdateLoginProfile

The following analytic detects an AWS CloudTrail event where a user with permissions updates the login profile of another user. It leverages CloudTrail logs to identify instances where the user making the change is different from the user whose profile is being updated. This activity is significant because it can indicate privilege escalation attempts, where an attacker uses a compromised account to gain higher privileges. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to escalate their privileges, potentially leading to unauthorized access and control over sensitive resources within the AWS environment.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1136.003

Detection Query

`cloudtrail` eventName = UpdateLoginProfile userAgent !=console.amazonaws.com errorCode = success
  | eval match=if(match(userIdentity.userName,requestParameters.userName), 1,0)
  | search match=0
  | rename user_name as user
  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
    BY signature dest user
       user_agent src vendor_account
       vendor_region vendor_product
  | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
  | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
  | `aws_updateloginprofile_filter`

Author

Bhavin Patel, Splunk

Created

2026-03-10

Data Sources

AWS CloudTrail UpdateLoginProfile

References

Tags

AWS IAM Privilege Escalation

Raw Content

name: AWS UpdateLoginProfile
id: 2a9b80d3-6a40-4115-11ad-212bf3d0d111
version: 12
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects an AWS CloudTrail event where a user with permissions updates the login profile of another user. It leverages CloudTrail logs to identify instances where the user making the change is different from the user whose profile is being updated. This activity is significant because it can indicate privilege escalation attempts, where an attacker uses a compromised account to gain higher privileges. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to escalate their privileges, potentially leading to unauthorized access and control over sensitive resources within the AWS environment.
data_source:
    - AWS CloudTrail UpdateLoginProfile
search: |-
    `cloudtrail` eventName = UpdateLoginProfile userAgent !=console.amazonaws.com errorCode = success
      | eval match=if(match(userIdentity.userName,requestParameters.userName), 1,0)
      | search match=0
      | rename user_name as user
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY signature dest user
           user_agent src vendor_account
           vendor_region vendor_product
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `aws_updateloginprofile_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 keys 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: From IP address $src$, user agent $user_agent$ has trigged an event UpdateLoginProfile for updating the existing login profile, potentially giving user $user$ more access privilleges
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: src
          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: threat
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1078/aws_updateloginprofile/aws_cloudtrail_events.json
          sourcetype: aws:cloudtrail
          source: aws_cloudtrail