Suspicious AWS EC2 Windows Password Retrieval via GetPasswordData

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Cred Access

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Execution
Persistence
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Priv Esc
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Defense Evasion
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Cred Access
- T1552.005Cloud Instance Metadata API
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects use of the EC2 GetPasswordData API which returns the encrypted local administrator password for a Windows instance. In the Wiz hybrid cloud response case an attacker with stolen AWS credentials called GetPasswordData to recover local admin passwords and pivot onto EC2 hosts. This is important because password retrieval across instances is a strong precursor to interactive host access and lateral movement into the compute layer.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious AWS EC2 Windows Password Retrieval via GetPasswordData

Pivot detection · T1078.004 · 9 related

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

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