CreateDBSnapshot
AWS
CreateDBSnapshot
Event
Creates a manual point-in-time snapshot of an RDS database instance for backup or recovery purposes.
Security Context
- Accessing cloud storage objects can expose sensitive data including backups, configuration files, application data, and customer information.
- Transferring data to external cloud accounts or regions can bypass network-based data loss prevention controls and exfiltrate large volumes of data.
Log Source
CloudTrail
Sample Event
Adversarial. Draco creates a manual snapshot of the production OCCAMY metadata RDS instance (occamy-prod-metadata). This is stage 1 of a two-step exfil: this CreateDBSnapshot is followed by ModifyDBSnapshotAttribute to grant the adversary account 555666661337 restore permission on the snapshot. Snapshot creation alone is suspicious because it’s manual (SnapshotType: manual) and was issued from an external IP using the adversary’s user agent.
{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "IAMUser", "principalId": "AIDADRAC0MALF0YBADGY", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::555123456789:user/draco", "accountId": "555123456789", "accessKeyId": "AKIADRAC0MALF0YEXAMP5", "userName": "draco", "sessionContext": { "attributes": { "creationDate": "2026-04-15T18:51:02Z", "mfaAuthenticated": "false" } } }, "eventTime": "2026-04-15T22:01:14Z", "eventSource": "rds.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "CreateDBSnapshot", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "203.0.113.66", "userAgent": "aws-cli/1.18.147 Python/3.7.10 Linux/5.4.0-1045-aws botocore/1.18.6", "requestParameters": { "dBInstanceIdentifier": "occamy-prod-metadata", "dBSnapshotIdentifier": "occamy-prod-metadata-666-share" }, "responseElements": { "dBSnapshot": { "dBSnapshotIdentifier": "occamy-prod-metadata-666-share", "dBInstanceIdentifier": "occamy-prod-metadata", "engine": "postgres", "engineVersion": "15.5", "snapshotType": "manual", "status": "creating", "port": 5432, "allocatedStorage": 200, "licenseModel": "postgresql-license", "masterUsername": "occamyadmin", "availabilityZone": "us-east-1a", "instanceCreateTime": "Mar 1, 2026, 9:00:00 AM", "percentProgress": 0, "encrypted": true, "kmsKeyId": "arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:555123456789:key/60000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000001", "storageType": "gp3" } }, "requestID": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000010000010", "eventID": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000010000011", "readOnly": false, "eventType": "AwsApiCall", "managementEvent": true, "recipientAccountId": "555123456789", "eventCategory": "Management", "tlsDetails": { "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3", "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256", "clientProvidedHostHeader": "rds.us-east-1.amazonaws.com" }}MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
Tactics: Collection Exfiltration
Techniques:
- T1530 — Data from Cloud Storage — Adversaries may access data from cloud storage.
- T1537 — Transfer Data to Cloud Account — Adversaries may exfiltrate data by transferring the data, including through sharing/syncing and creating backups of cloud environments, to another cloud account they control on the same service.