Sigma rule: AWS Suspicious SAML Activity

Rule

Title

AWS Suspicious SAML Activity

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Austin Songer

Date

2021-09-22

Modified

2022-12-18

File

rules/cloud/aws/cloudtrail/aws_susp_saml_activity.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Identifies when suspicious SAML activity has occurred in AWS. An adversary could gain backdoor access via SAML.

Log source

product

aws

service

cloudtrail

Detection

selection_sts:
    eventSource: 'sts.amazonaws.com'
    eventName: 'AssumeRoleWithSAML'
selection_iam:
    eventSource: 'iam.amazonaws.com'
    eventName: 'UpdateSAMLProvider'
condition: 1 of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Automated processes that uses Terraform may lead to false positives.
• SAML Provider could be updated by a system administrator. Verify whether the user identity, user agent, and/or hostname should be making changes in your environment.
• SAML Provider being updated from unfamiliar users should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.

Tags

• attack.initial-access
• attack.lateral-movement
• attack.persistence
• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1078
• attack.t1548
• attack.t1550
• attack.t1550.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1078
• T1548
• T1550
• T1550.001

References

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/APIReference/API_UpdateSAMLProvider.html
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/STS/latest/APIReference/API_AssumeRoleWithSAML.html

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