AWS CloudTrail GuardDuty Detector Deleted or Disabled via UpdateDetector

Identifies successful GuardDuty detector deletion or disablement from CloudTrail, reducing GuardDuty monitoring coverage.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v5

Product: aws
Service: cloudtrail
Author: suktech24 (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2025-11-27
Updated: 2026-07-31

Analysis Detection

ATT&CK techniques

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags successful GuardDuty detector removal or disabling by monitoring CloudTrail events with eventSource guardduty.amazonaws.com and eventName DeleteDetector or UpdateDetector (with requestParameters.enable set to false). Attackers may attempt to impair detection by stopping GuardDuty monitoring and causing findings to be lost after deletion. The rule relies on CloudTrail records containing eventSource, eventName, requestParameters.enable, and a successful errorCode/SUCCESS indicator. Analysts should validate the initiating user identity to confirm the change is legitimate.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Vulnerable Intel Ethernet Driver Load for BYOVD via SCATTERED SPIDER (via driver_load)

Malicious Defender Disable And Executable Exclusion Via Registry

Malicious UAC Disable via EnableLUA Registry Modification (via registry_set)

Malicious AMSI and ETW Patching via PowerShell Script

Malicious PowMix AMSI Bypass via amsiInitFailed

Suspicious ThrottleStop Driver Abuse for Defense Evasion in Ransomware Attacks

Malicious Disabling of Microsoft Defender Real-Time Protection via SystemSettingsAdminFlows by DeadLock Ransomware

Suspicious Security Software Uninstallation via WMIC Product Call Uninstall (Chaos Ransomware)

Suspicious Security Product Uninstall via wmic product call uninstall

AWS CloudTrail GuardDuty Detector Deleted or Disabled via UpdateDetector

Pivot detection · T1685 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v4
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v3
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

aws-cloudtrail-guardduty-detector-deleted-or-disabled-via-deletedetector-updated-d2656e78

title: AWS CloudTrail GuardDuty Detector Deleted or Disabled via UpdateDetector
id: dda70786-7f8c-4143-bc96-4888e4a4bde4
status: experimental
description: This rule flags successful GuardDuty detector removal or disabling by monitoring CloudTrail events with eventSource guardduty.amazonaws.com and eventName DeleteDetector or UpdateDetector (with requestParameters.enable set to false). Attackers may attempt to impair detection by stopping GuardDuty monitoring and causing findings to be lost after deletion. The rule relies on CloudTrail records containing eventSource, eventName, requestParameters.enable, and a successful errorCode/SUCCESS indicator. Analysts should validate the initiating user identity to confirm the change is legitimate.
references:
  - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/guardduty/latest/APIReference/API_DeleteDetector.html
  - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/guardduty/latest/APIReference/API_UpdateDetector.html
  - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/guardduty/latest/ug/guardduty_suspend-disable.html
  - https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/default_rules/719-39f-9cd/
  - https://docs.prismacloud.io/en/enterprise-edition/policy-reference/aws-policies/aws-general-policies/ensure-aws-guardduty-detector-is-enabled
  - https://docs.stellarcyber.ai/5.2.x/Using/ML/Alert-Rule-Based-Potentially_Malicious_AWS_Activity.html
  - https://github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel/blob/master/Solutions/Amazon%20Web%20Services/Analytic%20Rules/AWS_GuardDutyDisabled.yaml
  - https://github.com/elastic/detection-rules/blob/main/rules/integrations/aws/defense_evasion_guardduty_detector_deletion.toml
  - https://help.fortinet.com/fsiem/Public_Resource_Access/7_4_0/rules/PH_RULE_AWS_GuardDuty_Detector_Deletion.htm
  - https://research.splunk.com/sources/5d8bd475-c8bc-4447-b27f-efa508728b90/
  - https://suktech24.com/2025/07/17/aws-threat-detection-rule-guardduty-detector-disabled-or-suspended/
  - https://www.atomicredteam.io/atomic-red-team/atomics/T156001#atomic-test-46---aws---guardduty-suspension-or-deletion
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/aws/cloudtrail/aws_cloudtrail_guardduty_detector_deleted_or_updated.yml
author: suktech24, Huntrule Team
date: 2025-11-27
tags:
  - attack.defense-impairment
  - attack.t1685
  - attack.t1685.002
logsource:
  product: aws
  service: cloudtrail
detection:
  selection_event_source:
    eventSource: guardduty.amazonaws.com
  selection_action_delete:
    eventName: DeleteDetector
  selection_action_update:
    eventName: UpdateDetector
    requestParameters.enable: "false"
  selection_status_success:
    errorCode: Success
  selection_status_null:
    errorCode: null
  condition: selection_event_source and 1 of selection_action_* and 1 of selection_status_*
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate detector deletion by an admin (e.g., during account decommissioning).
  - Temporary disablement for troubleshooting (verify via change management tickets).
  - Automated deployment tools (e.g. Terraform) managing GuardDuty state.
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: d2656e78-c069-4571-8220-9e0ab5913f19
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

SplunkSPL