Suspicious AWS RDS Master Password Change (via cloudtrail)

title: Suspicious AWS RDS Master Password Change (via cloudtrail)
id: a7dfb95b-6c6b-5115-9714-1a02e87ba45c
status: stable
description: This rule detects the change of database master password. It may be a part of data exfiltration.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1020/
    - https://github.com/RhinoSecurityLabs/pacu/blob/866376cd711666c775bbfcde0524c817f2c5b181/pacu/modules/rds__explore_snapshots/main.py
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-07-27
tags:
    - attack.exfiltration
    - attack.t1020
logsource:
    product: aws
    service: cloudtrail
detection:
    selection_source:
        eventSource: rds.amazonaws.com
        responseElements.pendingModifiedValues.masterUserPassword|contains: '*'
        eventName: ModifyDBInstance
    condition: selection_source
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium