AWS Password Policy Changes

name: AWS Password Policy Changes
id: aee4a575-7064-4e60-b511-246f9baf9895
version: 7
date: '2026-02-25'
author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: Hunting
description: The following analytic detects successful API calls to view, update, or delete the password policy in an AWS organization. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to identify events such as "UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy," "GetAccountPasswordPolicy," and "DeleteAccountPasswordPolicy." This activity is significant because it is uncommon for regular users to perform these actions, and such changes can indicate an adversary attempting to understand or weaken password defenses. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to compromised accounts and increased attack surface, potentially allowing unauthorized access and control over AWS resources.
data_source:
    - AWS CloudTrail UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy
    - AWS CloudTrail GetAccountPasswordPolicy
    - AWS CloudTrail DeleteAccountPasswordPolicy
search: |-
    `cloudtrail` eventName IN ("UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy","GetAccountPasswordPolicy","DeleteAccountPasswordPolicy") errorCode=success
      | 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_password_policy_changes_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 triggered an AWS audit tool activity which may trigger this event.
references:
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/cloudoneconformity/knowledge-base/aws/IAM/password-policy.html
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - AWS IAM Privilege Escalation
        - Compromised User Account
    asset_type: AWS Account
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1201
    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/T1201/aws_password_policy/cloudtrail.json
          sourcetype: aws:cloudtrail
          source: aws_cloudtrail