ASL AWS Network Access Control List Deleted

name: ASL AWS Network Access Control List Deleted
id: e010ddf5-e9a5-44e5-bdd6-0c919ba8fc8b
version: 7
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Patrick Bareiss, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects the deletion of AWS Network Access Control Lists (ACLs). It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to identify events where a user deletes a network ACL entry. This activity is significant because deleting a network ACL can remove critical access restrictions, potentially allowing unauthorized access to cloud instances. If confirmed malicious, this action could enable attackers to bypass network security controls, leading to unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or further compromise of the cloud environment.
data_source:
    - ASL AWS CloudTrail
search: |-
    `amazon_security_lake` api.operation=DeleteNetworkAclEntry status=Success
      | spath input=api.request.data path=egress output=egress
      | spath input=api.request.data path=networkAclId output=networkAclId
      | search egress=false
      | fillnull
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY actor.user.uid api.operation api.service.name
           http_request.user_agent src_endpoint.ip actor.user.account.uid
           cloud.provider cloud.region networkAclId
      | rename actor.user.uid as user api.operation as action api.service.name as dest http_request.user_agent as user_agent src_endpoint.ip as src actor.user.account.uid as vendor_account cloud.provider as vendor_product cloud.region as vendor_region
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `asl_aws_network_access_control_list_deleted_filter`
how_to_implement: The detection is based on Amazon Security Lake events from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is a centralized data lake that provides security-related data from AWS services. To use this detection, you must ingest CloudTrail logs from Amazon Security Lake into Splunk. To run this search, ensure that you ingest events using the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Amazon Web Services (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/1876) or the Federated Analytics App.
known_false_positives: It's possible that a user has legitimately deleted a network ACL.
references: []
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user_arn = "$user$"'
      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 $user$ from $src$ has sucessfully deleted network ACLs entry.
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
    threat_objects:
        - field: src
          type: ip_address
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - AWS Network ACL Activity
        - Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters
    asset_type: AWS Instance
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1562.007
    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/T1562.007/aws_delete_acl/asl_ocsf_cloudtrail.json
          sourcetype: aws:asl
          source: aws_asl