Skip to content

DeleteBucketPolicy

AWS

DeleteBucketPolicy

service: AWS - S3
tactics:
techniques:

Event

Removes the resource-based policy from an S3 bucket, reverting to default access controls.

Security Context

  • Impairing defenses allows adversaries to operate freely by removing security controls that would otherwise detect or block their activity.
  • Accessing cloud storage objects can expose sensitive data including backups, configuration files, application data, and customer information.

Log Source

CloudTrail

Sample Event

Adversarial. Draco removes the bucket policy on fantasticlogs-niffler-archive so that a previously-restrictive resource policy (e.g., one that limited access to OccamyPipelineRole) is gone. Subsequent cross-account GetObject calls from 555666661337 will then succeed. This is the T1685 defense-impairment + T1530 collection setup.

{
"eventVersion": "1.09",
"userIdentity": {
"type": "IAMUser",
"principalId": "AIDADRAC0MALF0YBADGY",
"arn": "arn:aws:iam::555123456789:user/draco",
"accountId": "555123456789",
"accessKeyId": "ASIADRAC0MALF0YEXAMP5",
"userName": "draco",
"sessionContext": {
"attributes": {
"creationDate": "2026-04-15T19:02:11Z",
"mfaAuthenticated": "false"
}
}
},
"eventTime": "2026-04-15T20:14:02Z",
"eventSource": "s3.amazonaws.com",
"eventName": "DeleteBucketPolicy",
"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": {
"bucketName": "fantasticlogs-niffler-archive",
"Host": "fantasticlogs-niffler-archive.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"
},
"responseElements": null,
"additionalEventData": {
"SignatureVersion": "SigV4",
"CipherSuite": "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256",
"bytesTransferredIn": 0,
"AuthenticationMethod": "AuthHeader",
"bytesTransferredOut": 0
},
"requestID": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000011010000",
"eventID": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000011010001",
"readOnly": false,
"resources": [
{
"accountId": "555123456789",
"type": "AWS::S3::Bucket",
"ARN": "arn:aws:s3:::fantasticlogs-niffler-archive"
}
],
"eventType": "AwsApiCall",
"managementEvent": true,
"recipientAccountId": "555123456789",
"eventCategory": "Management",
"tlsDetails": {
"tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3",
"cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
"clientProvidedHostHeader": "fantasticlogs-niffler-archive.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"
}
}

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

Tactics: Collection

Techniques:
  • T1530 — Data from Cloud Storage — Adversaries may access data from cloud storage.