Classification:

attack

Tactic:

TA0004-privilege-escalation

Technique:

T1098-account-manipulation

VIEW RULE IN DATADOG VIEW SIGNALS

Goal

Detect when the AmazonSESFullAccess policy is attached to an AWS IAM user.

Strategy

This rule allows you to monitor CloudTrail and detect if an attacker has attached the AWS managed policy AmazonSESFullAccess to an AWS IAM user using the AttachUserPolicy API call. An attacker with an objective of leveraging the AWS Simple Email Service (SES) may only attach a policy relating to SES to avoid detections relating to the AWS managed policy [AdministratorAccess].

Triage and response

1. Determine if {{@userIdentity.session_name}} should have made a {{@evt.name}} API call.
2. If the API call was not made by the user:

• Rotate user credentials.
• Determine what other API calls were made by the user.
• Remove the AmazonSESFullAccess policy from the {{@requestParameters.userName}} user using the aws-cli command detach-user-policy.

3. If the API call was made legitimately by the user:

• Determine if the user {{@requestParameters.userName}} requires the AmazonSESFullAccess policy to perform the intended function.
• Advise the user to find the least privileged policy that allows the user to operate as intended.