AWS Disable Bucket Versioning

name: AWS Disable Bucket Versioning
id: 657902a9-987d-4879-a1b2-e7a65512824b
version: 8
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
data_source:
    - AWS CloudTrail PutBucketVersioning
description: The following analytic detects when AWS S3 bucket versioning is suspended by a user. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to identify `PutBucketVersioning` events with the `VersioningConfiguration.Status` set to `Suspended`. This activity is significant because disabling versioning can prevent recovery of deleted or modified data, which is a common tactic in ransomware attacks. If confirmed malicious, this action could lead to data loss and hinder recovery efforts, severely impacting data integrity and availability.
search: |-
    `cloudtrail` eventName= PutBucketVersioning "requestParameters.VersioningConfiguration.Status"=Suspended
      | rename user_name as user, requestParameters.bucketName as bucket_name
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY signature dest user
           user_agent src vendor_account
           vendor_region vendor_product bucket_name
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `aws_disable_bucket_versioning_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: It is possible that an AWS Administrator has legitimately disabled versioning on certain buckets to avoid costs.
references:
    - https://invictus-ir.medium.com/ransomware-in-the-cloud-7f14805bbe82
    - https://bleemb.medium.com/data-exfiltration-with-native-aws-s3-features-c94ae4d13436
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: Bucket Versioning is suspended for S3 buckets- $bucket_name$ by user $user$ from IP address $src$
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
    threat_objects:
        - field: src
          type: ip_address
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Suspicious AWS S3 Activities
        - Data Exfiltration
    asset_type: AWS Account
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1490
    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/T1490/aws_bucket_version/cloudtrail.json
          sourcetype: aws:cloudtrail
          source: aws_cloudtrail