AWS VPC Flow Logs Deleted
Detects the deletion of one or more VPC Flow Logs in AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) through the DeleteFlowLogs API call. Adversaries may delete flow logs to evade detection or remove evidence of network activity, hindering forensic investigations and visibility into malicious operations.
Detection logic
selection_event_name
eventName: DeleteFlowLogsselection_status_success
errorCode: Successselection_status_null
errorCode: nullCondition
selection_event_name and 1 of selection_status_*Raw YAML
title: AWS VPC Flow Logs Deleted
id: e386b9b5-af12-450e-afff-761730fb8a98
status: experimental
description: |
Detects the deletion of one or more VPC Flow Logs in AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) through the DeleteFlowLogs API call.
Adversaries may delete flow logs to evade detection or remove evidence of network activity, hindering forensic investigations and visibility into malicious operations.
references:
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DeleteFlowLogs.html
- https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/ec2/delete-flow-logs.html
- https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/security/prebuilt-rules/rules/integrations/aws/defense_evasion_ec2_flow_log_deletion
author: Ivan Saakov
date: 2025-10-19
tags:
- attack.stealth
logsource:
product: aws
service: cloudtrail
detection:
selection_event_name:
eventName: 'DeleteFlowLogs'
selection_status_success:
errorCode: 'Success'
selection_status_null:
errorCode: null
condition: selection_event_name and 1 of selection_status_*
falsepositives:
- During maintenance operations or testing, authorized administrators may delete VPC Flow Logs as part of routine network management or cleanup activities.
level: highFalse positives
- During maintenance operations or testing, authorized administrators may delete VPC Flow Logs as part of routine network management or cleanup activities.