Sigma rule: AWS EC2 Download Userdata

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-31415822d8a2, updated 2023-03-24T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
AWS EC2 Download Userdata
Status
unsupported
Level
medium
Author
faloker
Date
2020/02/11
Modified
2023/03/24
File
unsupported/cloud/aws_ec2_download_userdata.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects bulk downloading of User Data associated with AWS EC2 instances. Instance User Data may include installation scripts and hard-coded secrets for deployment.

Log source

product
aws
service
cloudtrail

Detection

selection_source:
    eventSource: ec2.amazonaws.com
    requestParameters.attribute: userData
    eventName: DescribeInstanceAttribute
timeframe: 30m
condition: selection_source | count() > 10

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Assets management software like device42

Tags

  • attack.exfiltration
  • attack.t1020

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/unsupported/cloud/aws_ec2_download_userdata.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "AWS EC2 Download Userdata" by faloker (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/unsupported/cloud/aws_ec2_download_userdata.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: AWS EC2 Download Userdata",
entity page, dataset version ref-31415822d8a2, updated 2023-03-24T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/26ff4080-194e-47e7-9889-ef7602efed0c (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 26ff4080-194e-47e7-9889-ef7602efed0c, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.