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العربيةDelete GuardDuty detector
Can delete a GuardDuty detector, ending threat detection in the region.
Grants escalation on its own.
guardduty:DeleteDetectorOn its own, guardduty:DeleteDetector can delete a GuardDuty detector, ending threat detection in the region. On a wide resource scope that alone reaches blinded detection or removed guardrails.
Why it is dangerous
A principal can call guardduty:DeleteDetector on the detector, which is the region's entire GuardDuty configuration - deleting it stops all threat detection there and discards existing findings. Nothing else in the account signals that detection has gone away.
In MITRE ATT&CK terms this maps to T1562.001, Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools, under the defense evasion tactic. AWS records it in CloudTrail as DeleteDetector. The call is loud in CloudTrail and stands out from normal activity.
Detection
DeleteDetectorPrerequisites
guardduty:DeleteDetector on the detector. In a delegated-administrator setup the member account may be unable to delete a centrally-managed detector.
Tactic
Defense Evasion
A control that would remove it: Restrict guardduty:DeleteDetector / DisassociateFromMasterAccount to a break-glass role; deny via SCP and alarm on the event.
Whether to apply it depends on how the permission is used in your environment, so it is a business decision rather than an automatic fix. The same permission can be load-bearing in one account and pure risk in another.
Pathbreak confirms whether this path resolves in your account, ranks it against the others by how much it opens up, and uses your threat model and business context to show which paths are worth cutting.
Questions
What does guardduty:DeleteDetector allow?
Can delete a GuardDuty detector, ending threat detection in the region.
Can guardduty:DeleteDetector escalate privileges on its own?
Yes. Held on a broad enough resource it reaches blinded detection or removed guardrails with no other permission.
How is delete GuardDuty detector detected?
Watch for DeleteDetector in CloudTrail. The call is loud in CloudTrail and stands out from normal activity.
How do you break this path?
A control that would remove it is: Restrict guardduty:DeleteDetector / DisassociateFromMasterAccount to a break-glass role; deny via SCP and alarm on the event. Whether to apply it depends on how the permission is used in your account, so it is a business decision rather than an automatic fix.
Which MITRE ATT&CK technique is this?
T1562.001, Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools, under the defense evasion tactic.
Related paths
References
Find this in your own account
We run a read-only scan of one AWS account and show you which of these paths exist, ranked by blast radius, with the change that breaks each one. First validated paths within the hour.